NUCLEAR POWER AND SPACE TRAVEL

ByFrankie Clifford

Julius DoelleBen Morgan

Types of Space travel via nuclear power

There are two main ways to travel through space using nuclear power Use of thermal nuclear rocketry Nuclear Pulse Propulsion

Thermal Nuclear Power

Thermal Nuclear Power (cont.) Thermal nuclear power is the method of

providing power and propulsion to the ship with the us e of an onboard nuclear reactor.

One proposed way of space travel using this method is known as Project Daedalus. Supposedly, with enough matter, a ship could use nuclear energy to travel for extremely long and extended periods of time.

(cont.) Other methods that make use of an

onboard reactor include: Nuclear electric rockets. Nuclear salt water rockets. Nuclear photonic rockets. Antimatter nuclear rockets.

Nuclear Pulse Propulsion

(cont.) Nuclear Pulse Propulsion is the method

of detonating a nuclear bomb behind a ship (at a safe distance, of course) and using the resulting shock waves, or pulses, to accelerate.

Using this method, and coupling it with enough bombs, a ship could be accelerated near the speed of light.

(cont.) Originally, this method would have been

used to get off the ground. However, quite a few bombs would have to be used to escape Earth’s gravitational pull. The environmental effects would be catastrophic.

The project was later called Project Orion and has now been adopted specifically for traveling in deep space.

The project, while not under development, has been supported by several physicist such as Feynman and Dyson.

Medusa Design

Medusa (cont.) Another nuclear pulse propulsion design is

the Medusa design pictured on the previous slide.

The design would incorporate a ‘sail’ or a massive bowl shaped design near the front of the ship. A bomb would be detonated between the ‘sail’ and the capsule where the crew or any instruments would be.

The ‘sail’ would catch the majority of the blast and the ship would be propelled forward.

Another famous nuclear powered ship