Deep Space Travel for Humans
Patrick de la Llana
Many theoretical ideas
Pictures
• Aclubierre Drive
• Solar Sail
• Magnetic Sail
• Worm Hole
Practicality
• Methods mentioned are impractical, impossible by
known standards, and we don’t even know if there
even feasible.
• Alcubierre=Make this, and you’ll be the greatest
scientist ever
• Wormhole=Throw a can of tuna into Large Hadron
Collider? I wish.
• Magnetic and Solar Sails= Have constant energy source
(Solar flares and photons). What materials can be
used?
• No funding, not enough energy/technology, and lack of
materials.
Nowdays we use…
Feasable Ideas
• Lets focus on what is actually a good idea, and
will not let us go over our heads
Nuclear Energy
• Two types of energy gained from nuclear
reactions.
– Fissure= split an atom into smaller parts, releasing
huge energies. Have used fissure to create
efficient energy
– Fusion=combining light elements to create heavier
elements. Have NOT used fusion to create
efficient energy. A lot of energy is still required to
make fusion. More powerful than fission
Types of Nuclear Propulsion systems
Types of nuclear propulsion systems
• Nuclear Electric=Ionizes fuel instead of
heating it up, and sends it through an electric
field. Basically same idea as Nuclear Thermal
with chemical energy, but uses electrical
– Electric Propulsion with nuclear reactor
– Satellites nowadays use Electrical propulsion.
Pictures
• Explosive Propulsion
• Nuclear Thermal Propulsion
• Nuclear Electric Propulsion
Chemical Rocket vs Nuclear Rocket
Issues with Nuclear Propulsion
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Public view
Radiation exposure
In some methods, lack of constant propulsion
Methods of utilization
– Trouble getting nuclear energy for use into space.
– Preferred it be fusion
Plasma Rockets
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Plasma instead of liquid hydrogen
For the curious, plasma=ionized gas
Many see it as a precursor to Nuclear Fusion
VASMIR
– Electrically charged plasma rocket,
– Gets energy from heating plasma, then releases it as
electrical energy (electrical propulsion)
– Converts Plasma to electrical energy using magnetic
fields
– Renewable since it uses gases in outer space.
Three Steps of Vasimr
• Gas is ionized
– Add energy, usually by adding voltage or heat
• Ion cyclotron heating
– Heats up electrons in a tokamak
• Heating of gas turns to propulsion
– Energy expelled turns to thrust for rocket
Pictures
• Tokamak
• Ion cyclotron heating
Miscellanous
• Problems with plamsa rockets:
– Technology, funding, and public view.
• Questions to physicists:
– Materials used for making kinds of ships?
– Radiation protection? Most likely aluminum
composite.
– When or who will create a fusion reactor with
more output energy than input? Almost at a
break-even
Sources
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http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/airplane/specimp.html
http://www.esa.int/esaMI/Education/SEM9YG161YF_0.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effective_exhaust_velocity#Specific_impulse_as_a_speed_.28ef
fective_exhaust_velocity.29
http://engineering.mit.edu/live/news/906-what-are-the-future-propulsion-systems-for
http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/E/exhaustvelocity.html
https://www.efda.org/fusion/focus-on/plasma-heating-current-drive/ion-cyclotron-resonantheating/
http://science.howstuffworks.com/fusion-reactor3.htm
www.nasa.gov
http://nuclearpoweryesplease.org/blog/2012/01/22/nuclear-history-part-1-the-nuclearrocket-that-never-flew/reaction-mass-vs-delta-v-blogg/
http://www.redcolony.com/art.php?id=0303050
http://space.about.com/b/2010/11/14/how-will-we-get-to-mars.htm
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1006/01vasimr/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsiolkovsky_rocket_equation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fission
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_thermal_rocket