Sorry but the Orion project only concentrate on debris size of 1 to 10-cm.
I also have a question, when did microrads became a unit for distance?
Hydrogen Engines
- Thread starter All Seeing Eye
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Sorry but the Orion project only concentrate on debris size of 1 to 10-cm.
I also have a question, when did microrads became a unit for distance?
GodThingFormerly
A Different Kind of Asshole
http://www.tethers.com/TT.html
They didn't. The ten microradians mentioned in the abstract refers to the (theoretical) angular accuracy of the laser's targeting mechanism.
TGT
We still have a problem since this thing only works with satellite that have these thing attached before put into orbit and does not have any effect with debris like broken off parts of wreckage, booster rocket remains, etc.
At the end not everything can be done by remote but that doesn't mean humans have to do EVA to collect junk. Watching the progress of Ashimo the robot developed by Honda, I think by the time we really need to clear debris we may just sending out a robot to do the handy work.
How much does that add up when relative distance is more than 100Km away and how accurate is it in tracking an object with velocity more than 8Km/second?
GodThingFormerly
A Different Kind of Asshole
True. A couple of recent International Astronautical Congress papers discussing this very subject are Active Extermination of Space Debris in Near-Earth Space Orbits by Gataullin et al (IAC-05-B6.3.04) and Space Debris Removal System Using a Small satellite by Nishida et al (IAC-06-B6.4.02). For those interest electronic copies can be purchased through the AIAA website.
I haven't read the linked 352 page PDF technical memorandum in over a decade.
TGT
All Seeing Eye
Admiral
I was thinking about the whole nuclear propulsion idea about detonating nukes on a plate which pushes the ship and was wondering if this idea could be used to generate electricity. As you know nuclear reactors generate nuclear waste which is weapons grade material, would it be possible to build an underground bunker with pressure plates connected to some generators and detonate nukes in these bunkers, the force of the explosions will push the plates and generate power?
EDIT: Also instead of pressure plates how about a bunker network filled with water, the nukes explode under the water and create waves which turn turbines.
EDIT: Also instead of pressure plates how about a bunker network filled with water, the nukes explode under the water and create waves which turn turbines.
a) That would be using an uncontrolled nuclear reaction. I'm in favour of nuclear power... but not of uncontrolled nuclear reactions. In short, that would be silly.
b) Nuclear waste is not weapons-grade material. The Canadian stuff is not enriched at all, and American nuclear waste is low-enriched - weapons-grade uranium is high-enriched. (Also, we can't use it in reactors because it's full of fission products so you have to let it sit for a few years before you can get more energy out of it.)
c) There is actually some research underway to design reactors that will run on nuclear waste (Generation 4 reactors) - from what I hear, they should be ready within the decade.
What about Nuclear Pulse Rockets (To the uninitiated, they work by heating cryogenic hydrogen in a nuclear reactor, causing it to expand, then forcing it through a nozzle)? It's a highly efficient design, especially since hydrogen is the most common element in the universe, and can be skimmed from just about anywhere, i.e. Gas giant planets, nebulae, or even the near-vacuum of space.
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