1 posted on
04/04/2012 9:35:35 PM PDT by
U-238
To: U-238
Heck, I want a nuclear drone that can fly for months. Why shouldn't the gooberment?
/johnny
To: U-238
The U.S. actually considered building nuclear powered long range strategic bombers in the 1950s. The NB-36 was converted to carry a fully operational nuclear power plant as proof-of-concept, but it did not power the aircraft. The NB-36 cockpit was heavily shielded from the radiation and the crew was sealed inside with a 3-ton plug. If the NB-36 went down, the crew was along for the ride.
When the NB-36 flew, there was a C-119 chase plane with a group of fully armed paratroops. Should the NB-36 crash, they were to jump at the crash site to secure the nuclear material until authorities and decontamination teams arrived.
What killed the nuclear bomber was the stark fact that a crash would spread radioactive materials over a large area and require tons of remedial work. The nuclear bomber was canceled. The same thing applies to a nuclear powered drone.
To: U-238
Obama has them working on an algae powered drone that can stay up for minutes at a time.
7 posted on
04/04/2012 10:52:54 PM PDT by
NoLibZone
(Anybody but Obama- because it's not always about me™. Now its about my nation and not my chastity)
To: U-238
9 posted on
04/04/2012 11:28:18 PM PDT by
allmost
To: U-238
>"Then add to that the problem of all that technology falling into the wrong hands, and it was decided that the risks were simply too high. "Hard for that NOT TO HAPPEN, with a moose slime marxist mole in the CIC seat!
11 posted on
04/05/2012 12:26:30 AM PDT by
rawcatslyentist
("Behold, I am against you, O arrogant one," Jeremiah 50:31)
To: U-238
Shoot,they should talk to the guy, wait a miute, he crashed and burned in New Mexico a while back. Anyway, he was talking about a plane that had solar power for the daytime and glide at night years ago.
12 posted on
04/05/2012 3:11:24 AM PDT by
wastoute
(Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
To: U-238
Actually, this is a perfect application for solar panels.
Up above the cloud ceiling you would have sunshine 12 hours a day.
Solar-powered drones could be used as alternatives to communications satellites, for one thing. A lot cheaper to launch, and you could rotate them out every couple of years for routine maintenance and upgrades.
It would probably look something like this:
13 posted on
04/05/2012 7:35:36 AM PDT by
E. Pluribus Unum
(Over half of U.S. murders are of black people, and 90% of them are committed by other black people.)
To: U-238
but the consequences of a nuclear drone crash was just too much of a political risk to take. If a nuke drone crashed over enemy territory, that country would undoubtedly claim that the U.S. had exploded a dirty bomb over their state.
A foreign country? How about one of those drones crashing here near a US city. The political "fallout" would be enormous. Sorry, had to say it.
It is too much of a liability though. Look at the fuss raised over nuclear reactors in spacecraft.
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