Ad Astra Rocket Company

I spent a little time reading their website.  In case you are not familiar with this company, they are the ones who are developing the VASIMR propulsion system which will roll out on the ISS in 2014.  As usual, I may have been a bit hasty in my enthusiasm for space and included this in technology that is "just around the corner".  There are a few more technological hurdles to pass for this technology.  This quote here from Aviation Week, June 18, 2010 by Mark Carreau, was interesting to me because I think there may be a way to use the heat which is causing a problem:

Meanwhile, Vasimr’s success depends on overcoming other technical hurdles. Though the high-temperature plasma is constrained by magnetic field lines, some of the ultra-hot particles reach the inner walls of the engine.

In some of my reading last night, it looks like they are trying to find a way to cool it down.  I wonder if using a Stirling type device to generate electricity could be useful in this instance?  That would turn waste heat into an energy source which could power an active cooling system.  The VASIMR system requires a lot of energy, yet the energy gets lost as waste heat and its a problem.  If the waste heat can be recycled back into the system, would it not be more efficient?  Could that waste heat become a resource?  Just a thought.

By the way, I included a link to Ad Astra in my sidebar on the left.  Lots of interesting reading there.