fission rockets
...sophisticated ideas for “human space transportation is decades away at best.” Instead of aiming for such far-fetched ideas, man has went along with an idea that has been abandoned for almost 30 years; nuclear rocket engines. One of the most viable, yet debatable plans of powering spacecraft’s for extended voyages is by using nuclear energy. Currently, spacecraft’s carry chemical engines producing low power, with the superior powerful nuclear rocket spacecraft’s will greatly exceed the speeds it originally could. There are two candidates for nuclear rockets that uses the different types of nuclear reaction fission, when atoms split apart; and fusion, when they join together. Fission-powered rockets are more fuel efficient, and doesn’t weigh as much as chemical engine rockets. What this means is that, nuclear spacecraft’s can travel at far greater speeds than the current space craft that holds a chemical engine. This means that a nuclear spacecraft could arrive at Saturn in as little as three years, whereas the conventional spacecraft could reach the destination of Saturn in seven years. Another added plus to the fission-powered rocket, is it carry’s enough fuel for the spacecraft to take a tour of the solar system for fifteen years. This is allowed because with the fission-powered rocket the fuel lasts longer. The main problem with fission-powered engines is the controversy over nuclear waste. The Earth’s environment could be protected by launching these spacecraft with conventional chemical rockets. Only when the spaceship was well away from the Earth would the nuclear reactors fire up, ensuring that the radioactive waste wouldn’t find its way back home. However, the production of radioactive waste would pose a problem for sending manned missions on nuclear spacecraft rather than a robotics probe being sent on missions. Nuclear fusion-powered rockets produce even more energy and it is the process that occurs inside the stars and thermonuclear weapons. A propulsion system using nuclear fusion would be 10 million times more powerful than chemical rockets and would emit much less radiation. However, there are many obstacles involved in making fusion-powered rockets. For instance, in experiments here on Earth no one has been able to create controlled fusion reactions that produce more energy than they consume. In addition, the optimum fuel for fusion reactions, which is Helium 3, is scarce on our planet and the nearest plentiful source is on the Moon. Many research projects are currently being conducted worldwide, and so the mysteries of nuclear fusion maybe soon solved. Finally, enabling us to send manned missions into deep space. However, the best hope we have of reaching the nearest star, Alph Centaur, some 25 billion miles away, is in a spacecraft powered by anti-matter, but that is another story. Both the fission-powered and fusion powered were originally designed the same. The nuclear rockets utilized energy to heat a reactor core to very high temperatures. The hydrogen gas flowing through the core then becomes superheated and exits the engine at very high exhaust velocities. The combination of temperature and the low molecular weight of the hydrogen will produce an engine with specific impulses above 900 sec...