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
Hi James: It is a concept as old as the atomic bomb. I remember reading science-fiction stories in the sixties that mentioned the concept, as well as a show at Hansen Planetarium in the early '70's that also mentioned it. One of the variations was a "spring-plate" on the back of the ship, in lieu of a "sail", to provide a surface for the explosion to react against. 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
__________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Web Hosting - establish your business online http://webhosting.yahoo.com
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
__________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Web Hosting - establish your business online http://webhosting.yahoo.com
_______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com
http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Web Hosting - establish your business online http://webhosting.yahoo.com
Not sure if my last response went through. My very clever cockatoo hit the standby button on the keyboard. Project Orion was the brainchild of Dr. Freeman Dyson, a very brilliant physicist indeed. Is it possible? probably. Is it possible to do it safely? I doubt it. Greg --- Chuck Hards <chuckhards@yahoo.com> wrote:
Hi James:
It is a concept as old as the atomic bomb. I remember reading science-fiction stories in the sixties that mentioned the concept, as well as a show at Hansen Planetarium in the early '70's that also mentioned it. One of the variations was a "spring-plate" on the back of the ship, in lieu of a "sail", to provide a surface for the explosion to react against. 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
__________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Web Hosting - establish your business online http://webhosting.yahoo.com
_______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com
http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Web Hosting - establish your business online http://webhosting.yahoo.com
Greg, Thanks for the excellent reply. The information regarding good ol' Mr. Clark was especially interesting, as I am sure this at least partially correlates with the projects title. The information that Dale Hooper sent seems to be most inline with what I had briefly heard. Anyways, thanks much for the help! Cheers, James. -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-admin@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-admin@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Greg Taylor Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2003 7:58 PM To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Project Morpheus (not the software) Not sure if my last response went through. My very clever cockatoo hit the standby button on the keyboard. Project Orion was the brainchild of Dr. Freeman Dyson, a very brilliant physicist indeed. Is it possible? probably. Is it possible to do it safely? I doubt it. Greg --- Chuck Hards <chuckhards@yahoo.com> wrote:
Hi James:
It is a concept as old as the atomic bomb. I remember reading science-fiction stories in the sixties that mentioned the concept, as well as a show at Hansen Planetarium in the early '70's that also mentioned it. One of the variations was a "spring-plate" on the back of the ship, in lieu of a "sail", to provide a surface for the explosion to react against. 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
__________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Web Hosting - establish your business online http://webhosting.yahoo.com
_______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com
http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Web Hosting - establish your business online http://webhosting.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy
Interesting. The spring-plate sounds a little more convincing. When I was mentally picturing the device, I couldn't imagine a solar-sail (presumably Mylar or some other highly condensable, lightweight, metallic) withstanding the force of the explosion, even at a distance. The shrapnel alone would shred it. Thanks! -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-admin@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-admin@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Chuck Hards Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2003 2:42 PM To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Project Morpheus (not the software) Hi James: It is a concept as old as the atomic bomb. I remember reading science-fiction stories in the sixties that mentioned the concept, as well as a show at Hansen Planetarium in the early '70's that also mentioned it. One of the variations was a "spring-plate" on the back of the ship, in lieu of a "sail", to provide a surface for the explosion to react against. 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
__________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Web Hosting - establish your business online http://webhosting.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy
Ah yes, the discovery network (TLC THC DISC, ect). They like to do extensive stories on the most obscure theories. There was a Project Orion in the fifties that dealt with nuclear propulsion, but they didn't use a sail (more on that after my search results on Project Morpheus). I did and advanced search on google to see if I could find anything to do with Project Morpheus that didn't have the word "software" in it. Except for a bunch of weird occult gaming societies hard rock who knows what, I found a time line for Arthur C. Clarke's book "The Lost Worlds of 2001". Here is an excerpt: "1994: Two years after meeting Isaac Asimov, Representative McBurney and his delegation tour the General Robotics Division of Adaptive Machines, where the experimental Autonomous Mobile Explorer 5, known as Socrates, takes part in Project Morpheus, designed to test long term hibernation. Its two test subjects are Whitehead and Kaminski, in hibernation 142 days at the time of this visit. It is hoped that this work will help get Project Jupiter off the ground. (Lost Worlds, pgs. 82 & 85)" That is all that is mentioned about Project Morpheus in the time line, and the wrong Project Morpheus to boot. Next, I'll try Project Orpheus, just in case you heard them wrong, which I doubt... Besides reference to the mythological Orpheus, there is a bunch of stuff about some super computer and some other irrelevant hud. Must be Morpheus after all. I tried Morpheus again with even more exclusions (it must not have the words: Software Faust Windows Microsoft Occult Apple Gaming Game). The only thing that I could find was some hard rock stuff from Australia and references to some sci-fi and fantasy stories about who knows what. All of the pages except the 2001 page were so strange that I didn't want to open them (waco's love porn). In conclusion, this Project Morpheus is clearly someone's pipe dream based loosely on research that happened in the fifties. More info on Project Orion: http://www.islandone.org/Propulsion/ProjectOrion.html and http://www.space.com/spacelibrary/books/library_projectorion_020709.html I saw this book about a year ago, they had a few pictures of some unmanned capsule being propelled into the upper atmosphere by detonating atomic bombs that it dropped behind it. This is also interesting: http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/PAO/html/warp/ideaknow.htm Greg --- 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
_______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy
__________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Web Hosting - establish your business online http://webhosting.yahoo.com
cyanics@xmission.com wrote:
Does anyone know anything about a "project morpheus"?
Oddly enough, this was on Space Daily today: The Case For Orion "Orion" was the project name of a spacecraft design study so absurd that it stood absolutely no chance of success from the very outset. The drive mechanism was to be an atomic bomb machine gun. Ridiculous as the idea seems it was still given a shoestring budget and a team of top scientists to work on it. The results of that research which ended about two generations ago are still largely classified, but what is known raises some startling questions. http://www.spacedaily.com/news/nuclearspace-03h.html Patrick
participants (5)
-
Chuck Hards -
cyanics＠xmission.com -
Greg Taylor -
James Helsby
-
Patrick Wiggins