A SUCCESSFUL LAUNCH of the privately owned space ship in california

POSTED BY: ScottishBrownCoat
UPDATED: Thursday, July 1, 2004 22:34
VIEWED: 10704
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NOOCYTE

Friday, June 25, 2004 4:04 PM

As far as I can tell, one of the important linchpins here is reaching and exceeding the break-even point with nuclear fusion (that is, the point where you get more energy out of the reaction than you spend getting it started). Certain kinds of fusion produce essentially no radioactive waste (as opposed to the terminally dirty fission) and the potential for really high energy yields.

Using such fusion power, you could crack seawater for hydrogen (thus eliminating the need to use natural gas or some other fossil fuel as a source of hydrogen...and more to power that process). There's your hydrogen economy. Not altogether surprising, then, that fusion research is ridiculously under-funded (mustn't make the Oil Lobby nervous!)...

As for flying cars, check out www.moller.com. This bloke has been working toward that very goal for decades, and seems REALLY CLOSE to free-flight testing a viable prototype (tethered tests have already taken place).

Keep flyin'!

Department of Redundancy Department

FORRESTWOLF

Friday, June 25, 2004 4:12 PM

Ion engines are great for in-space travel. This is something I work on for a living! They look really, really, cool, too - sort of like an in-space Serenity burn. They don't work for launch, though. Fusion/fission launch would use hydrogen heated by the reactor, most likely - more or less direct usage of the reaction, without conversion to electric power first.

As for low funding for fusion, regardless of the political reasons (and, by the way, both major parties have a bad track record of funding it), the funding IS low. And I don't think it has a good chance of working until the funding goes WAY up. Someone needs to fund a lot of different innovative approaches, not all-the-eggs-in-one-basket like now, and also fund the big projects sufficiently to get them to break even.

Sigh...it will happen someday - I just wish it would happen soon.

JCOBB

Friday, June 25, 2004 4:38 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Forrestwolf:
Ion engines are great for in-space travel. This is something I work on for a living! They look really, really, cool, too - sort of like an in-space Serenity burn. They don't work for launch, though. Fusion/fission launch would use hydrogen heated by the reactor, most likely - more or less direct usage of the reaction, without conversion to electric power first.

Yep.

I know that the idea of a mass driver won't work for human occupants, (due to the massive G forces involved) but what about using that as a system of getting the base vehicles up into space, and then for getting humans up relying on more conventional means, (or even unconventional, Arthur C. Clarke's space elevators spring to mind).

I don't care, I'm still free.

FORRESTWOLF

Friday, June 25, 2004 4:44 PM

Mass drivers ("rail guns") are another electromagnetic-based approach - and in this case, entirely propellant-free.

Again, not enough funding spent - some very clever people at Lawrence Livermoore have worked on it, but it's just not far enough along yet.

As for space elevators, that's getting pretty far out there for now - materials just aren't advanced enough yet, and the infrastructure cost could be unbelievable until some sort of manufacturing advancement happens.

Railguns and beamed power are nearer-term, IMHO.

JCOBB

Friday, June 25, 2004 4:50 PM

Yeah, I was lucky enough to go out to eat with Guy Gardner, and we chatted a long time about the privitization of space, (he's really big in that area). He said that there were some remarkable steps in the right direction (at least tensile strength wise) to make the space elevators more of a reality.

Anyways, great discussion, keep it up!

(Oh, what about solar sails, I don't know if that is pure science fiction or not, but I recall reading about it somewhere.)

I don't care, I'm still free.

FORRESTWOLF

Friday, June 25, 2004 7:52 PM

I hope space elevators will work, soon - they'd completely change our society...

As for solar sails, similar problem to ion engines - not appropriate for launch. Thrust levels very, very low - great for moving stuff between planets, but not to orbit.

JCOBB

Monday, June 28, 2004 3:28 AM

Yep, more curious as to if they were even possible, but it sounds like you think they are, (which is excellent news to me.)

I don't care, I'm still free.

MANTICHORUS

Monday, June 28, 2004 9:27 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by JCobb:
Yeah, I was lucky enough to go out to eat with Guy Gardner, and we chatted a long time about the privitization of space, (he's really big in that area). He said that there were some remarkable steps in the right direction (at least tensile strength wise) to make the space elevators more of a reality.

Anyways, great discussion, keep it up!

(Oh, what about solar sails, I don't know if that is pure science fiction or not, but I recall reading about it somewhere.)

I don't care, I'm still free.

Hate to show my ignorance, but who's Guy Gardner? I'm sure there's a comic book character of that name...

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MAL: "Well, look at this! Appears them boys at Fox have decided to cancel us. What does that make them?"
ZOE: "Big damn idiots, sir."
MAL: "Ain't they just."
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ASAKUMA

Thursday, July 1, 2004 10:34 PM

I was just looking at the threads and wanted to comment. I don't care if it made orbit or not. I think that this is a wonderful event. Maybe space travel can happen after all.

ASAKUMA

Thursday, July 1, 2004 10:34 PM

I was just looking at the threads and wanted to comment. I don't care if it made orbit or not. I think that this is a wonderful event. Maybe space travel can happen after all.

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