Comments on the paper by T. Kammash, D.L. Galbraith, A high gain fusion reactor based on the magnetically insulated inertial confinement fusion (MICE) concept

Kammash and Galbraith (see ibid., vol.29, p.1079 (1989)) calculated the energy gain factor Q for the MICF pellet by using a simplified set of particle and energy balance equations and reported that, for a typical example, a Q value of approximately 300 is obtainable with an input energy of approximately 4 MJ (Q is the ratio of the fusion energy to the input energy). The input energy is equal to the initial thermal energy. They proposed to apply the concept to space propulsion. On the other hand, Hasegawa et al (1988) have performed numerical simulations by using the hydrodynamic code HISHO together with theoretical estimation and found a Q value of approximately 15 with a laser input energy of 25 MJ for a typical MICF target. The authors have tried to explain the differences in the input energy requirement and gain values between these works