the new additions to this article describe all of the stages of an impulse engine.. this article is about an impulse reactor, which is a completely separate thing. -- Captain Mike K. Bartel 19:15, 26 Nov 2004 (CET)
- ...impulse reaction chamber, is one of three components that make up the impulse engine. A single impulse fusion reactor is a spherical-shaped component that is six meters in diameter. An impulse engine contains 4 of these reactors, in addition to the driver coil assembly, and the accelerator/generator systems. The plasma created from the reaction is diverted to one of two routes. If the generator is used to generate power for the ship, the plasma is diverted to the EPS grid and power distribution nets. If the reactor is used for propulsion, the plasma is accelerated through an exhaust accelerator (2nd stage) and then through a space-time driver coil (3rd stage), which functions similarly to the warp coils (located in the nacelles). Finally, exhaust is routed trough the vectored exhaust director, which has movable vanes that can control the output of the exhausts (4th stage).
Not sure where this comes from, but its not from any references I found. --Alan 17:14, 5 March 2008 (UTC)