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A Fusion detonation beneath the earth transfering an intense electromagnetic pulse to a huge coil which is duplicated above the surface. This pulse causes a ring magnet to launch to orbit.
Any takers?
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Kind of like my tread:
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Interesting thread, unfortunately it is excessive, hidieously prone to scorch earth launches and probably will never be capable of anything greater than 50,000ton payloads before the rads start killing adjacent population centres.
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Interesting thread, unfortunately it is excessive, hidieously prone to scorch earth launches and probably will never be capable of anything greater than 50,000ton payloads before the rads start killing adjacent population centres.
Well, you pulled that number out of a hat but how many tons do you plan to launch into space anyway? :shock:
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I don't think either fusion or fission will be adviseable rocket technologies. Fission sprays out WAY too much radiation in either particles or gamma-rays and fusion requires alot of equiptment and rare fuels (looking for helium-3 on Earth is a heck of alot harder than mining for uranium, and if you have to drag it from the Sun, Jupiter, or even he Moon it defeats the purpose of using it for an Earth-launch system). Using either fission or fusion bombs in an Orion-type pulse rocket wouldn't be great either - nuclear treaties aside imagine the sheer whiplash from having a dozen H-bombs blasting behind you!!
Fission power is fesable, although fusion power, when it become available, will probably be a tad complicated - useful only here on Earth or in planetary bases where the resources are close.
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I don't think either fusion or fission will be adviseable rocket technologies. Fission sprays out WAY too much radiation in either particles or gamma-rays and fusion requires alot of equiptment and rare fuels (looking for helium-3 on Earth is a heck of alot harder than mining for uranium, and if you have to drag it from the Sun, Jupiter, or even he Moon it defeats the purpose of using it for an Earth-launch system). Using either fission or fusion bombs in an Orion-type pulse rocket wouldn't be great either - nuclear treaties aside imagine the sheer whiplash from having a dozen H-bombs blasting behind you!!
Fission power is fesable, although fusion power, when it become available, will probably be a tad complicated - useful only here on Earth or in planetary bases where the resources are close.
Well, if you are going to go with nuclear power, Orion type drives are the only drives that have enough performance to be worth the risk and environmental damage. Weather or not you can engineer it in an economical manner is another question. For it to be economical it is going to need to be large and use large bombs. If it can use large H bombs all the better.
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For it to be economical it is going to need to be large and use large bombs. If it can use large H bombs all the better.
I know its a legitamate propulsion concept, but tell me...how are you going to get people aboard saying "Oh we fly by detonating an H-bomb under your seat."
....thats where it goes from theory to common sense. H-bombs were made as weapons. The only way you could use them even remotely safely for an Orion spacecraft is from several miles away - possibly for space but not on a planet and certainly not a launchpad.
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Perhaps the biggest strike against Orion is simply cost, that building an arsenal of atomic bombs every time you fly, and the launch facility that can both handle such a massive vehicle while not being wiped out by the bombs. Landing is a particularly large problem.
[i]"The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those that do not have it." - George Bernard Shaw[/i]
[i]The glass is at 50% of capacity[/i]
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