Hi, So I've got a couple starship designs I want to explore more fully. I'm fascinated with the concept of the Orion Drive, which uses thermonuclear blasts knocked against a pusher plate located far to the aft of the main hull and connected by a series of beams to drive it forward in space. The thing is that current materials can be used to make it if the nations felt so inclined. I know that there are some problems associated with the project, including the fact that if they launched into space using nuclear rockets it would cause lots of pollution. Assuming that a ship gets assembled in space, then launched, that's no longer an issue, or if you use a disposable standard rocket to leave the earth. You save fuel on braking if you use a solar sail to slow down once you reach your destination. The other big problem is that you cant attain maximum speed at high acceleration without killing the crew, so what about a computer-controlled ship? Moving at .1c it takes a 40-odd years to get to Alpha Centauri. Can anyone tell me just about how slow time seems to go at that speed? 40 years our speed feels like what, 15 years at .1c? For the other thing I was thinking, what happens if you use anti-hydrogen and hydrogen to accomplish the same thing? Store the anti-hydrogen in a magnetic containment field and then blast it out towards the center of the pusher plate, shoot out an equivalent volume of hydrogen angled so they meet and annihilate each other before the anti-hydrogen hits the pusher plate, and focused so that the explosion strikes the pusher plate and drives the ship? Could a pusher plate be rigged so that its shock absorbers also harnessed the movement of the plate and used it to generate electricity? Any other thoughts? Thanks.
Your first part of the design would need to be concentrated on material composition. The material that you would want to use would need to lightweight yet durable enough to withstand the forces exerted against it. Here would be a good start. http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/news/a13919/new-steel-alloy-titanium/
Some drawings on the battleship Orion: http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=27691 Giant starships: http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=7229 http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=27691
Thanks for the input, guys. I actually came here from Project Rho. The gentleman from up-ship, Scott Lowther, is a genius. He knows more about the project than any living person, save Freeman and possibly George Dyson
Johndale Solem's medusa pulse sail interests me. It might double for a solar sail if wide enough. I also think a lot about Anthony Zuppero http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Zuppero http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/15/zuppero_solar_system/ Some nice art http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com...chers-Mostly?p=1934526&viewfull=1#post1934526 http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com...ry-and-Launchers-Mostly?p=1998955#post1998955