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An Advanced Propulsion Overview
Centauri Dreams ^ | 09/04/09

Posted on 09/04/2009 5:19:47 PM PDT by KevinDavis

Both Tau Zero Foundation founder Marc Millis and JPL’s recently retired Robert Frisbee appear in an article in the Smithsonian’s Air & Space, where voyages to distant places indeed are discussed. Nothing is further from Earth, the article notes, than Voyager 1, which travels at a speed (almost 17 kilometers per second) that would get it across the US in a little under four minutes. Point that spacecraft toward Proxima Centauri and the journey at this speed would take 73,000 years. Clearly, something has to give, and writer Michael Klesius runs through the options.

(Excerpt) Read more at centauri-dreams.org ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Science
KEYWORDS: science; space

1 posted on 09/04/2009 5:19:47 PM PDT by KevinDavis
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To: Howlin; Sparko; GeronL; Lawdoc; Carlucci; Zoe Brain; callisto; scottinoc; Movemout; markman46; ...


For other space news go to: http://www.spacetoday.net
2 posted on 09/04/2009 5:20:14 PM PDT by KevinDavis (Can't Stop the Signal!)
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To: KevinDavis

always interesting but we’re going to have to use the sun’s gravity to make a worm hole.

first we need to learn how, of course

simple...

=o)


3 posted on 09/04/2009 5:23:12 PM PDT by GeronL (http://libertyfic.proboards.com)
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To: KevinDavis

How apt is it that a propulsion expert should be named “Frisbee...”


4 posted on 09/04/2009 5:24:34 PM PDT by freedumb2003 (Communism comes to America: 1/20/2009. Keep your powder dry, folks. Sic semper tyrannis)
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To: GeronL; All

It is easy....


5 posted on 09/04/2009 5:25:01 PM PDT by KevinDavis (Can't Stop the Signal!)
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To: KevinDavis

We’re not going since Hopey-Changey requires our economy to pay for welfare, useless czars, and shovel ready (not yet) jobs. That should simplify matters.


6 posted on 09/04/2009 5:27:42 PM PDT by wally_bert (It's sheer elegance in its simplicity! - The Middleman)
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To: KevinDavis

Maybe not easy, but wasn’t a rudementary application used by the Nazi’s to colonise Moon Base Alpha?


7 posted on 09/04/2009 5:42:09 PM PDT by nkycincinnatikid
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To: wally_bert

He’s placating those who think the space program is a waste of money.


8 posted on 09/04/2009 5:43:31 PM PDT by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: KevinDavis

I favor Dyson’s project Orion, using nuclear bombs to propel a spaceship to much higher velocities than is possible with chemical rocket motors....

Mars in a few weeks....


9 posted on 09/04/2009 8:16:41 PM PDT by Vaquero ("an armed society is a polite society" Robert A. Heinlein)
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To: Vaquero; wally_bert
Right on! That is the only practical space ship humans have ever conceived. Ship size was unlimited, bombs would have been very small in the .5 KT range. All the human space flight problems we are currently spending huge sums on were overcome by this ship design and propulsion - back in 1968.

One can thank Nixon, the PC crowd, and the envirowackos for suppressing this advancement in science and space flight, sticking us instead with a poorly designed shuttle to nowhere except a dead end. All the other forms of propulsion proposed are either theoretical or inferior -> because they are slower and would require as yet unsolved solutions to protect their small crews. In a sense, one could say that each of them is a step backward.

But as wally_bert said we have to pay for “welfare, useless czars, and shovel ready (not yet) jobs.”

10 posted on 09/05/2009 4:42:16 AM PDT by PIF
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To: PIF

I had forgotten the “bomb drive” idea until you brought it up again. What is the odd little nuclear device compared to the incalcuable amount of radiation in space? I guess the watermelons consider space pristine and empty. In reality they hate progress because they are shown to be useless and unnecessary when things improve. I hate those so-called people.


11 posted on 09/05/2009 4:59:31 AM PDT by wally_bert (It's sheer elegance in its simplicity! - The Middleman)
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http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/A/advanced_propulsion_concepts.html
http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/B/beamedenergyprop.html
http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/L/laserprop.html
http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/P/photon_propulsion.html

fission (Orion)
http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/O/OrionProj.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion)
http://www.islandone.org/Propulsion/ProjectOrion.html
http://www.angelfire.com/stars2/projectorion/
http://nextbigfuture.com/2009/02/updated-project-orion-nuclear-pulse.html
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/309/1 [”The fuel would be 800 nuclear bombs.”]

fusion (Daedalus)
http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/D/Daedalus.html


12 posted on 09/05/2009 8:39:25 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/__Since Jan 3, 2004__Profile updated Monday, January 12, 2009)
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To: wally_bert
What those “guys” dislike is not only the radiation in space but the whole idea of manned space travel - specifically they object to the launching of nuclear material of any kind lest it fall back to earth and pollute them. NASA was finally able to launch probes etc with nuclear batteries only after lawsuits etc. were overcome. The NERVA engine was usable years ago but remains earthbound because it is a very small nuclear reactor.

You are right about hating “progress” — in fact many of them would rather see all of us return to the 14th century (except for them). This is why they are so intent on dumbing down children by rewriting history to reflect their view points in schoolbooks. They would rather children grow up to be social activists than engineers.

13 posted on 09/05/2009 8:41:30 AM PDT by PIF
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To: PIF
Social activists are easier to control and give orders to. Engineering and other real jobs require critical (bad) thinking (bad) and a degree of intelligence (not tolerable). I am just a lowly technical person but I appreciate progress and the people who can make it happen.
14 posted on 09/05/2009 9:12:42 AM PDT by wally_bert (It's sheer elegance in its simplicity! - The Middleman)
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To: wally_bert

We’re sooo old fashioned :)


15 posted on 09/05/2009 9:47:20 AM PDT by PIF
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