Ok, looks like there is real world reason to dive into a star. It is a way to pop-start a fusion drive.
The "Bussard Buzz Bomb" is an inertial-impact fusion drive idea-
Ever had a stick shift with a weak battery? You park it at the top of a hill, then roll downhill to start the car.
It's a stick shift starship with a bad battery. It swings by the gas giants, not for aerobraking, but for a course correction and a gravity-assist slingshot towards the sun.
The "Bussard Buzz Bomb" is an inertial-impact fusion drive idea-
http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=315
at the velocities proposed for interstellar flight, nuclear fusion can be accomplished at the temperatures produced by impact.
...
it would take a velocity of 200 kilometers per second to light the starship’s main engines using [impact fusion].
... a spacecraft making a close pass by the Sun (virtually skimming the solar surface) could reach 600 kilometers per second,
at the velocities proposed for interstellar flight, nuclear fusion can be accomplished at the temperatures produced by impact.
...
it would take a velocity of 200 kilometers per second to light the starship’s main engines using [impact fusion].
... a spacecraft making a close pass by the Sun (virtually skimming the solar surface) could reach 600 kilometers per second,
It's a stick shift starship with a bad battery. It swings by the gas giants, not for aerobraking, but for a course correction and a gravity-assist slingshot towards the sun.
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