Nuclear Bomb Drive
You read it right! We can actually use a bunch of nuclear bombs to accelerate a spacecraft to very high speeds. And I certainly didn’t make this up!
The 1960’s was the golden age of nuclear science - researchers were looking at all the different ways that atomic energy could be used. At this time, DARPA and NASA were actively researching a top secret “Project Orion”.
The idea is as simple as it gets - eject nuclear bombs consecutively behind a spacecraft and with each explosion the spacecraft gains additional momentum. A large steel plate (called a pusher plate) is used to absorb each explosion. This type of drive is called a “pulsed engine” as opposed to a “steady state engine” like modern chemical rockets. However, in order to provide uniform acceleration, the pusher plate attaches to the spacecraft via a spring-damper system (much like the shock-absorber used on your car). This type of drive is based entirely on technologies that have already been invented. One advantage is the simplicity of fuel storage since all is needed is a giant magazine of nuclear bombs.
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But I can see several hurdles here. To begin, this drive is incredibly inefficient - only a small portion of the explosion gets absorbed by the pusher plate with the remainder escaping into empty space. The pusher plate itself will get very hot and combined with the spring-damper system, it poses a significant mass penalty to the entire spacecraft. Finally, where are we going to find this many nuclear bombs? Given the current state of world affairs, not one country will be willing to give up their arsenal.
All in all, the atomic bomb drive is an elegant solution, and somewhat poetic too - it allows humankind to repurpose weapons of mass destruction into engines of space colonization.
Are nukes in space even legal? I thought the Test Ban Treaty from the 1960's banned them all (the reason my Dad's proposed test of Einstein's relativity could never be performed.... https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/JZ065i002p00619
Senior Tactical Systems Analyst
2 年I believe that in concept, the greater mass required is not really a penalty, because the heavier mass contributes to the stability of the craft as the explosions push it along. If you are attempting interstellar travel, there certainly would be questions about fuel to carry along, especially when it comes to how much to accelerate, yet still preserve propulsion 'weapons' to decelerate. But this is an idea that always fascinated me, swords into plowshares in the form of warheads into spacefarers!
Aviation & Aerospace Consultant / Author/ Teacher/ Open Innovation Product Developer/InventRight
2 年That technique was demonstrated feasible by General Atomics in San Diego back in the late 1950's. It was done for the USAF, under the name Project Orion.
CEO/Founder Element One Technologies - Project lead on the Utah Hydrogen Project. Inventor: the bi-polar Hydrogen Reactor - HyFuels: hydrogen based liquid fuels for gasoline and diesel replacement. Specialty H2ICEs,
2 年Of course IF a nuclear engine were to be understood enough to propel a space craft to warp speed - you’d have to have an anti-warp speed nuclear engine to slow it down...
Entrepreneur, Innovator, Team Builder, Board Member. Subject Matter Expert - Autonomous Systems / Next Generation Defense Capabilities
2 年More of a VASIMR advocate myself ????♂?