Project Orion-themed Propulsion Systems

[chaos_forge]

Orion would be used for a main burn and mainsails would be used for corrections

Still, 1km/s is approx. what you need for a normal orbital Hohmann transfer. So you might as well avoid the problem of having to make your ship stand up to the accelerations of the Orion drive (not to mention the awful TWR you'd get by lugging around a massive Orion Drive) and just go directly with the Hohmann transfer route. The point isn't to make going to other planets *impossible* with an Orion Drive, all we want to do is make getting there with an Orion Drive comparable in effort to getting there the normal way.

[Joonatan1998]

When money is added it could be balanced by nuclear bombs being expensive.

[Alex_Leonardo]

I know Project Orion is touted as real science, but reading abut it I just can't get behind it. It doesn't make any sense to me that impulses could be several seconds apart, the rocket could accelerate rapidly, and it'll not fly apart.

It's something called engineering that makes it work.

The thing is very basic in concept.

You throw a special nuke behind you, have some type of blast plate or cupping part for the back that will cup the expanding energy that it creates, then keep doing it every three seconds for ten days,

ANNNNNNNNND

you're going 20% the speed of light.

See, if you got a giant pogostick, put a giant superstrong titanium cup on the end, and put an explosive inside the cup, it would push the pogostick forward and also absorb the shock created by the explosive without damage.

Edited March 6, 2014 by Alex_Leonardo

[Alex_Leonardo]

Believe it; a test model [actually flew:

http://youtu.be/BeiTFgQ_EfQ

I believe it was Dyson himself who calculated that statistically each launch of an Orion would cause one fatal case of cancer. Can't even call for volunteers, because it's so random a risk... We aren't flying ORION because there are real problems with the drive, not just technical issues but very serious problems with its side effects.

-- Steve

Unless you created barrier to stop the radioactive particles from spreading throughout the ship and causing fatal mutations such as cancer..

Or is he talking about launching it on the ground?

That would be bad. Spraying radioactive particles all over the world.

[Jouni]

Some random statistics. There are about 2 million work-related deaths annually in the world. The gross world product is something like $80 trillion a year. The costs of launching something to LEO start at around $5000/kg. So assuming that building and launching rockets is about as dangerous as the average productive activity, then for every 8 tons launched to LEO, on the average, someone dies in the process.

So maybe the one additional statistical death per Orion launch wasn't that significant reason for canceling the program.

[frizzank]

I think the fact that they wanted to detonate a nuke every few seconds is what canceled the project. As well as everything that goes with getting nukes into orbit.

[ScallopPotato]

When money is added it could be balanced by nuclear bombs being expensive.

Basically lifting the pusher plate and all the other gear requires extremely heavy launchers, even for the smallest Orions. So therefore it's really expensive cargo. Reputation could play a role too (Watch it drop as you do the direct nuking ascent).

I actually do want to try out the Orion mod that Scott Manley showcased.

[Anton P. Nym]

Unless you created barrier to stop the radioactive particles from spreading throughout the ship and causing fatal mutations such as cancer..

Or is he talking about launching it on the ground?

That would be bad. Spraying radioactive particles all over the world.

Dyson was looking at ground launches, or even sea launches. The issue was fallout... which has been "cleaned up" with newer technology, I'm told, but still they are nuclear weapons using fissionables so they'll never be entirely free of radioactive contamination.

As for protecting the crew from radiation exposure from the detonations, the pusher plate is more than adequate. The crew is at more risk from cosmic rays after leaving Earth's magnetosphere.

-- Steve

[Alex_Leonardo]

Dyson was looking at ground launches, or even sea launches. The issue was fallout... which has been "cleaned up" with newer technology, I'm told, but still they are nuclear weapons using fissionables so they'll never be entirely free of radioactive contamination.

As for protecting the crew from radiation exposure from the detonations, the pusher plate is more than adequate. The crew is at more risk from cosmic rays after leaving Earth's magnetosphere.

-- Steve

I know. I knew that.

[meve12]

Dyson was looking at ground launches, or even sea launches. The issue was fallout... which has been "cleaned up" with newer technology, I'm told, but still they are nuclear weapons using fissionables so they'll never be entirely free of radioactive contamination.

-- Steve

Hybrid Launch?

Use a chemical rocket for first stage into the stratosphere, then fire up the Orion. Minimizes ground fallout without the costs of pushing the Orion all the way into LEO.

[Anton P. Nym]

Hybrid Launch?

Use a chemical rocket for first stage into the stratosphere, then fire up the Orion. Minimizes ground fallout without the costs of pushing the Orion all the way into LEO.

(from here)

-- Steve