Human (real life) Spacecraft by Ze_Creator
A real-life technologically possible way to travel into deep space. This spacecraft is powered by the detonation of a-bombs. The blast shield will "catch" the blast. It must be assembled in orbit. It has cryo pods though
sunpanels
flaweddesign
betterwaystogo
howtowarpdrive
space
votetrumper
Comments
-
Technomancer 4th Jun 2017
The process becomes a lost quicker once you have your first operational Orion-drive ship, since it could reach and return from the asteroid belt much faster and more easily than a conventional, rocket-powered ship, bringing resources for the construction of subsequent ships. Story idea... -
Technomancer 4th Jun 2017One could perhaps build and launch such ships from the Moon, if one could get the materials there (perhaps tow an asteroid into orbit around the Earth, mine it and launch the resultant minerals using a mass accelerator, on a trajectory calculated to strike the Moon as gently as possible, far from the construction site).
-
Technomancer 4th Jun 2017It was considered plausible by NASA.. The drawback is that the blast plate would be too massive to realistically lift it into orbit by other means, so it would be necessary to assemble the ship on the ground. Also, multiple detonations would probably be needed to lift a ship into orbit, completely devastating a broad area as radiation was dispersed through the atmosphere at all altitudes.
-
Technomancer 4th Jun 2017Correct. It was basically an armour plate with shock-absorbers (there's no atmosphere in space, but shockwaves are still conducted through the solid matter of the ship itself). The plate would be strong enough that a nuclear blast wouldn't significantly damage it, but the resultant force would "throw" the ship away from the explosion (just as debris flies outward from any explosion)
-
SK325 4th Jun 2017
No, the principle behind the Orion project was to have a blast-resistant shock plate which would protect the ship from th blast and allow the ship to be pushed forward instead of destroyed. There is enough of a wave from the weapon (even without surrounding atmosphere) to propel the ship. -
Author 3rd Jun 2017
@N0ble In space there is no shockwave, only a flash of light and a weak plasma wave. Nuclear weapons are very weak in space because of this. -
Mythcaller 3rd Jun 2017
look at all these science-y guys... I wish I was as smart as all you are... -
N0ble 3rd Jun 2017
I'm fairly certain the shockwave would dissovle the ship, if the bomb went off too clost ot it. -
Technomancer 3rd Jun 2017Also, while this design would indeed need to be built in space, there's no functional reason why this propulsion system couldn't be ground-launched (though the environmental impact would be pretty horrific, with a strong enough hull it's feasible and is probably the easiest way to get into orbit with modern technology)
-
Technomancer 3rd Jun 2017That's the one (also, more informally known as "Project Bang-Bang" - seriously!). It's a really primitive, but highly practical and effective, version of what is now called a Nuclear Pulse Drive