More - including pictures, videos and links - here: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/04/10 ... mars_trip/NASA, and plenty of private individuals, want to put mankind on Mars. Now a team at the University of Washington being funded by the space agency is about to start building a fusion engine that could get humans there in just 30 days and make other forms of space travel obsolete.
"Using existing rocket fuels, it's nearly impossible for humans to explore much beyond Earth," said lead researcher John Slough, a UW research associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics in a statement. "We are hoping to give us a much more powerful source of energy in space that could eventually lead to making interplanetary travel commonplace."
The proposed Fusion Driven Rocket (FDR) is a 150-ton system that uses magnetism to compress lithium or aluminum metal bands around a deuterium-tritium fuel pellet to initiate fusion. The resultant microsecond reaction forces the propellant mass out at 30 kilometers per second, and would be able to pulse every minute or so and not cause g-force damage to the spacecraft's occupants.
The spent fuel pellet is ejected behind the motor to provide propulsion, and because the whole process is magnetically controlled there's relatively little wear and tear on the engines. A pellet the size of a grain of sand would provide the same propellant as a gallon of conventional rocket fuel.
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To Mars in 30 days - by fusion rocket
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klr
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To Mars in 30 days - by fusion rocket
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It's not up to us to choose which laws we want to obey. If it were, I'd kill everyone who looked at me cock-eyed! - Rex Banner
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Audley Strange
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Re: To Mars in 30 days - by fusion rocket
Hmm that's just excellent. Thanks, I was looking for something exactly like that.
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klr
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Re: To Mars in 30 days - by fusion rocket
Book your ticket now.Audley Strange wrote:Hmm that's just excellent. Thanks, I was looking for something exactly like that.
God has no place within these walls, just like facts have no place within organized religion. - Superintendent Chalmers
It's not up to us to choose which laws we want to obey. If it were, I'd kill everyone who looked at me cock-eyed! - Rex Banner
The Bluebird of Happiness long absent from his life, Ned is visited by the Chicken of Depression. - Gary Larson
It's not up to us to choose which laws we want to obey. If it were, I'd kill everyone who looked at me cock-eyed! - Rex Banner
The Bluebird of Happiness long absent from his life, Ned is visited by the Chicken of Depression. - Gary Larson
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FBM
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Re: To Mars in 30 days - by fusion rocket
Veeery interesting... 
"A philosopher is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn't there. A theologian is the man who finds it." ~ H. L. Mencken
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Re: To Mars in 30 days - by fusion rocket
Just what the world needs now.
A huge money sink.
A huge money sink.
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Gawdzilla Sama
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Re: To Mars in 30 days - by fusion rocket
I imagine the Republicans are solidly behind this.
A chance to send FDR to Mars?
A chance to send FDR to Mars?
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Re: To Mars in 30 days - by fusion rocket
What a joke, this technology will never get off the ground. Literally.Given the tight financial strictures of the US government this is unlikely, but the FDR engine has the potential to make chemical or ion drives for spacecraft as obsolete as the steam engine for earth-bound transportation.
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Re: To Mars in 30 days - by fusion rocket
It would only be used in space, one imagines...Tyrannical wrote:What a joke, this technology will never get off the ground. Literally.Given the tight financial strictures of the US government this is unlikely, but the FDR engine has the potential to make chemical or ion drives for spacecraft as obsolete as the steam engine for earth-bound transportation.
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FBM
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Re: To Mars in 30 days - by fusion rocket
I imagine they would either construct it in space or get it aloft with conventional fuel before firing up the FDR engine.
"A philosopher is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn't there. A theologian is the man who finds it." ~ H. L. Mencken
"We ain't a sharp species. We kill each other over arguments about what happens when you die, then fail to see the fucking irony in that."
"It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while the wolf remains of a different opinion."
"We ain't a sharp species. We kill each other over arguments about what happens when you die, then fail to see the fucking irony in that."
"It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while the wolf remains of a different opinion."
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Gawdzilla Sama
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Re: To Mars in 30 days - by fusion rocket
Yep, we learned from "Prometheus" exactly what happens when you fire up the ion engines in the lower atmosphere.FBM wrote:I imagine they would either construct it in space or get it aloft with conventional fuel before firing up the FDR engine.
(What exactly did happen when they fired up the ion engines in the lower atmosphere?)
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FBM
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Re: To Mars in 30 days - by fusion rocket
Gawdzilla Sama wrote:Yep, we learned from "Prometheus" exactly what happens when you fire up the ion engines in the lower atmosphere.FBM wrote:I imagine they would either construct it in space or get it aloft with conventional fuel before firing up the FDR engine.
(What exactly did happen when they fired up the ion engines in the lower atmosphere?)
"A philosopher is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn't there. A theologian is the man who finds it." ~ H. L. Mencken
"We ain't a sharp species. We kill each other over arguments about what happens when you die, then fail to see the fucking irony in that."
"It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while the wolf remains of a different opinion."
"We ain't a sharp species. We kill each other over arguments about what happens when you die, then fail to see the fucking irony in that."
"It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while the wolf remains of a different opinion."
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Gawdzilla Sama
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Re: To Mars in 30 days - by fusion rocket
Didn't see that, just the damn ship acting "normally". I guess that's another hole they never plugged.FBM wrote:Gawdzilla Sama wrote:Yep, we learned from "Prometheus" exactly what happens when you fire up the ion engines in the lower atmosphere.FBM wrote:I imagine they would either construct it in space or get it aloft with conventional fuel before firing up the FDR engine.
(What exactly did happen when they fired up the ion engines in the lower atmosphere?)
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FBM
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Re: To Mars in 30 days - by fusion rocket
You're talking about a movie, aren't you? I think I read too much.Gawdzilla Sama wrote:Didn't see that, just the damn ship acting "normally". I guess that's another hole they never plugged.FBM wrote:Gawdzilla Sama wrote:Yep, we learned from "Prometheus" exactly what happens when you fire up the ion engines in the lower atmosphere.FBM wrote:I imagine they would either construct it in space or get it aloft with conventional fuel before firing up the FDR engine.
(What exactly did happen when they fired up the ion engines in the lower atmosphere?)
"A philosopher is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn't there. A theologian is the man who finds it." ~ H. L. Mencken
"We ain't a sharp species. We kill each other over arguments about what happens when you die, then fail to see the fucking irony in that."
"It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while the wolf remains of a different opinion."
"We ain't a sharp species. We kill each other over arguments about what happens when you die, then fail to see the fucking irony in that."
"It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while the wolf remains of a different opinion."
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Gawdzilla Sama
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Re: To Mars in 30 days - by fusion rocket
You haven't d/l'd "Prometheus" yet?
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FBM
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Re: To Mars in 30 days - by fusion rocket
Mmm. Did we have a conversation about it? Was it more than 3 days ago?Gawdzilla Sama wrote:You haven't d/l'd "Prometheus" yet?
"A philosopher is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn't there. A theologian is the man who finds it." ~ H. L. Mencken
"We ain't a sharp species. We kill each other over arguments about what happens when you die, then fail to see the fucking irony in that."
"It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while the wolf remains of a different opinion."
"We ain't a sharp species. We kill each other over arguments about what happens when you die, then fail to see the fucking irony in that."
"It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while the wolf remains of a different opinion."
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