Mars Hopper Concept

[Kerbin Dallas Multipass]

Article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24213830

This idea sounds a bit like the result of Jebediah Kerman and Scott Manley getting drunk on windscreen wiper fluid: The hopper uses atmospheric CO2 and a super hot radioactive source to propel the hopper over the surface of Mars. Doing 900m leaps.

Comments?

[Scotius]

Uh huh...it would hop around just fine, sure. Until it would find first patch of unstable ground and crashed. If you want to go all-terrain, you don't use pogo stick - even nuclear powered one.

[magnemoe]

Uh huh...it would hop around just fine, sure. Until it would find first patch of unstable ground and crashed. If you want to go all-terrain, you don't use pogo stick - even nuclear powered one.

I requested an pongo stick who used mini nukes for jumping in some Fallout 3 forum once. Basically an one man orion rocket.

However this jumper makes some sense, think of it as an very low powered LV-N, first you compress the air, then you heat it and use it to do an small ballistic jump and slow down for landing.

It would be far less affected by unstable ground than an rover who could can get stuck far easier. Rocks at the landing zone on the other hand would be an problem.

It would not be as precise as an rover however you could get it to lift of ground, move in one direction, brake and settle, Think of moving an lander with drive and rcs in KSP.

[Captain Sierra]

This all sounds great . . . . Until someone reminds yall about that inconvenient thing called radiation. These are basically NERVA engines. That has to be healthy for the martian atmosphere!

[M.Wolfy]

This all sounds great . . . . Until someone reminds yall about that inconvenient thing called radiation. These are basically NERVA engines. That has to be healthy for the martian atmosphere!

Yeah, but there dosen't seem to be any life to harm...

[Captain Sierra]

So we are not counting contaminating the martian atmosphere contaminating scientific samples? or even causing dangerous levels of radiation for future HUMAN settlers? The environmental fallout even on a barren world (I can't call it a wasteland anymore, there is water!) is something that should not go overlooked.

[Nibb31]

So we are not counting contaminating the martian atmosphere contaminating scientific samples? or even causing dangerous levels of radiation for future HUMAN settlers? The environmental fallout even on a barren world (I can't call it a wasteland anymore, there is water!) is something that should not go overlooked.

You are aware that the level of ambient radiation on Mars is already dangerous for humans. Any humans will need some sort of shielding anyway.

[Kryten]

It's an RTG, not a nuclear reactor. No neutron radiation or fission products to worry about. The only way it could cause release of radioactive materials is if the whole thing gets blown open.

[Canopus]

I hope you are joking Captain Sierra. And thats a very cool concept.

[lajoswinkler]

This is not NERVA. NERVA has a fast and powerful fission reactor, but it only irradiates stuff around it with neutrons, gamma rays. No contamination occurs.

You can't use it for hopping around because it's too heavy.

RTG quietly decays and radiates almost entirely heat.

Contamination would occur in case the thing breaks up which is highly unlikely, given their stiffness.