X-SpaceX Raptor designer has ready for development designs for nuclear rocket

[superpunch]

It's good that he's working on something we have already that we don't really need

What left a greater legacy for our civilization? LBJ's war on poverty or JFK's moon mission? Nixon and LBJ's Vietnam War or JFK's moon mission?

 

[Dirt Road Soldier]

It's good that he's working on something we have already that we don't really need

If we want to explore beyond earths orbit, we DO need tech like this. Conventional rocket engines like what we have now are inefficient as all hell, and are awful for long distance traveling. So unless you are content with humanity never leaving earth, yes we need this to be done. And lord knows the government wont spend a dime on it anymore.

 

[superpunch]

If we want to explore beyond earths orbit, we DO need tech like this. Conventional rocket engines like what we have now are inefficient as all hell, and are awful for long distance traveling. So unless you are content with humanity never leaving earth, yes we need this to be done. And lord knows the government wont spend a dime on it anymore.

I just saw an interesting stat: a traditional chemical rocket able to take us to the closest star system would have to have a fuel tank larger than the observable universe.

 

[OverCoronavirus Pressure]

If we want to explore beyond earths orbit, we DO need tech like this. Conventional rocket engines like what we have now are inefficient as all hell, and are awful for long distance traveling. So unless you are content with humanity never leaving earth, yes we need this to be done. And lord knows the government wont spend a dime on it anymore.

I was fucking around.

To be clear, fuck Proxmire.

I really liked the Orion idea.

 

[Renard]

So... where's the space X launching test sites already? Might want to keep some of that potassium iodide in the first aid box, boys

Just looked it up, the sites are in Florida and California. That's fine, we won't be able to tell the difference when the radiation starts affecting their brain.

 

[Dirt Road Soldier]

I just saw an interesting stat: a traditional chemical rocket able to take us to the closest star system would have to have a fuel tank larger than the observable universe.

If it burned continuously maybe. But that would be for constant increases in thrust, which would be pointless. The problem with conventional fuel rockets is that the more fuel you pack on for the trip, the more you need to make the trip. Its a problem that recycles itself to the point where its well beyond the point of impracticality.

Rockets based on the Orion project, however, solve this problem handily. NASA has also dabbled in other types of thrust inclusing solar sails, Ion thrust, and a few others that never made it off the drawing board. The ideas are there, some of them are even good, but they wont spend the money on them because of either political reasons (People would have seizures protesting an Orion design rocket being launched) or because failed tests make it hatd to justify trying several times because of the cost involved.

 

[OverCoronavirus Pressure]

If it burned continuously maybe. But that would be for constant increases in thrust, which would be pointless. The problem with conventional fuel rockets is that the more fuel you pack on for the trip, the more you need to make the trip. Its a problem that recycles itself to the point where its well beyond the point of impracticality.

Rockets based on the Orion project, however, solve this problem handily. NASA has also dabbled in other types of thrust inclusing solar sails, Ion thrust, and a few others that never made it off the drawing board. The ideas are there, some of them are even good, but they wont spend the money on them because of either political reasons (People would have seizures protesting an Orion design rocket being launched) or because failed tests make it hatd to justify trying several times because of the cost involved.

Better travel is coming.
We could have had this in the 70's.
I feel confident the future is knocking at the door and we will have a second human culture out in the asteroid belt and that isn't pie in the sky.

 

[superpunch]

Better travel is coming.
We could have had this in the 70's.
I feel confident the future is knocking at the door and we will have a second human culture out in the asteroid belt and that isn't pie in the sky.

As you said, we could have done this in the 1970s. What's different now? Conditions are even worse. Interest on the debt alone is going to take up over $1 trillion a year by the end of the decade and eventually near 50% of the national budget on any mission's realistic timescale. Social security's systematic failure is also pending on the timeline of any potential mission funding. Risking an astronaut's life is unacceptable after Challenger. Politicians care more about their own re-elections and districts than national pride. We don't have the boldness, political integrity, or even the financial ability to do this.

 

[OverCoronavirus Pressure]

Risking an astronaut's life is unacceptable after Challenger.

Understood, that it's naive public perception. Risk has always come with riding a controlled explosion beyond the atmosphere. Without risk we couldn't do much besides stand still.
And the idea that politicians got in a hurry in the 1960's was that if we don't accomplish it, someone else will.

And it's against our national interest to cede exploration of/ ability to control what's up there.