Nuclear Powered Spacecraft

I'm sure the fuel, payload, and the engine that's about two storeys tall will all together weigh less than an average man in a spacesuit.
 
Byeman said:
no sense in risking things on flying on SLS.
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Musk doesn't do hydrogen. Less risky than Starship for now.

Right now, we have--what--three cores in the pipeline. Put a 10 year manned BEO moratorium due to Orion problems.

This could be a windfall for the DARPA NTR guys.

If you are going to do NTR---you want as much hydrogen as you can get.

As New Glenn comes on line--then kill SLS if you wish.
 
publiusr said:
1. Musk doesn't do hydrogen. Less risky than Starship for now.

2. Right now, we have--what--three cores in the pipeline. Put a 10 year manned BEO moratorium due to Orion problems.

3. This could be a windfall for the DARPA NTR guys.

4. If you are going to do NTR---you want as much hydrogen as you can get.

5. As New Glenn comes on line--then kill SLS if you wish.
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1. no, it isn't. Don't need hydrogen anyways.
2. SLS will be gone by then
3. They don't need SLS
4. Not true.
5. Just do it now.
 
Number 4 ...if you go to the expense of an NTR, you might as well have the biggest LH2 tank you can find.
 
Scott Kenny said:
Right.

And to make 0.85m/s/s on 101newtons of thrust the spaceship weighs how much?

F = m * a, 101=m*0.85, 101/0.85=m, m=118.8kg.
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Indeed, but you scale the engine and the fuel relative to the size of the ship. So for a 101kg probe and 1m/s^2 you need 59kg/day of fuel and for a 10t ship you need 5.9t of fuel.

The fuel is obviously included in that mass but the ship gets lighter as the fuel is used. Space travel requires a lot of fuel but now do the same calcs for an Isp of 450s and get back to me.

Helicity are claiming up to 160,000s Isp unless it's a misprint, and 1,000N thrust:

www.nextbigfuture.com

Helicity Space Fusion Propulsion Funded by Lockheed Martin | NextBigFuture.com

Helicity Space, a commercial space company developing in-space propulsion and power technology based on fusion power, announced an investment from Lockheed
www.nextbigfuture.com www.nextbigfuture.com

The ISP would be 7000 to 160000.

The “large” system would get to 55-1000 newtons of thruyst with 30 plasma guns and convert about 100 kilowatts into 1-2 megawatts of power. The very large systems with 170 plasma guns could reach gigawatts of power and tens of thousands of newtons of thrust.
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1715247850364.png

 
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Forest Green said:
Indeed, but you scale the engine and the fuel relative to the size of the ship. So for a 101kg probe and 1m/s^2 you need 59kg/day of fuel and for a 10t ship you need 5.9t of fuel.
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You're talking a 12 day mission and the launch weight doesn't have mass for 12 days.

Do you see the problem?
 

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