Project Orion was the brainchild of Dr. Freeman Dyson, a very clever physicist indeed. If done very far from the Earth, it _might_ be feasable to do it safely. There is so much radiation in space (outside of the Earth's magnetic field) that one would already have to shield the craft extensivly against it. It would be a simple matter of providing somewhat heavier protection. Near the Earth, however, the EMP (electro-magnetic pulse) from the nukes would fry communication satelites, and fallout from the bombs would almost certainly enter the atmosphere. In short, nuclear propulsion could work, but it is far too dangerous to try IMHO. Greg
As laughable as the concept sounds, I have met engineers & physicists who insist it is feasable & can be designed to be safe, given a sufficient budget.
As far as any 'Net resources, or modern write-ups, you're on your own.
C.
--- cyanics@xmission.com wrote:
All,
First off.... First submission (ye ha).
Secondly, I realize that this is an avenue for astronomy, and not necessarily astrophysics (which this question pertains to)
Does anyone know anything about a "project morpheus"? I ask, because I was watching the Learning Channel a few nights ago, in which the discussion was interstellar or intrastellar travel. One of the possibilities that they discussed was this project morpheus. It used a solar-sail type array, which in its envelope a low-yield nuclear weapon is detonated. The force of the explosion is caught in the sail, and accelerates the spacecraft to speeds (as they said) of "several hundred thousand miles per hour"
While I accept that this velocity is achieveable, I found the technology laughable. So I ask the question. Does anyone know of an avenue which I can follow that might have more information (beyond a basic google search) regarding this project?
Thanks in advance
James Helsby. cyanics@xmission.com
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