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#1 2024-02-08 18:43:53
- Calliban
- Member
- From: Northern England, UK
- Registered: 2019-08-18
- Posts: 3,793
Alpha Particles Propulsion
A very interesting new concept with potentially 100+km/s dV.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=16Mq7q5797E
"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."
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#2 2024-02-08 19:01:17
- tahanson43206
- Moderator
- Registered: 2018-04-27
- Posts: 19,369
Re: Alpha Particles Propulsion
For Calliban re new topic...
Best wishes for success with this interesting new topic.
For readers/members ... the video is only 11 minutes long. It is packed with graphics to help explain the concept.
(th)
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#3 2024-02-09 09:31:27
- Calliban
- Member
- From: Northern England, UK
- Registered: 2019-08-18
- Posts: 3,793
Re: Alpha Particles Propulsion
For Calliban re new topic...
Best wishes for success with this interesting new topic.
For readers/members ... the video is only 11 minutes long. It is packed with graphics to help explain the concept.
(th)
TH, thanks. Rather like a solar sail, this is a low thrust propulsion system. But the alpha particles are moving at about 5% of C, so specific impulse beats even ion propulsion.
The best isotopes for propulsion would be relatively short lived alpha emitters. Things like 238Pu and Am-241. The second is a waste actinide.
The fission fragment rocket is a similar concept that uses fission fragments instead of alpha particles for thrust. This could be a candidate for interstellar propulsion. The alpha particle sail is probably too slow for that task. But it could provide very cost effective propulsion between Earth and the outer solar system. If we wanted to send probes to the outer planets and kuiper belt, this concept is well suited for that.
Last edited by Calliban (2024-02-09 09:35:47)
"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."
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