Cthulhu
01-20-03, 11:52 PM
http://www.merkle.com/pluto/fig0.jpg
From the rumour mill at NuclearSpace.com (http://www.nuclearspace.com)
Here's the original clue that got me thinking Prometheus could be a launch system. It was a low key article over a year ago, largely missed by other internet media or ignored.
NASA considers nuclear boosters for space rockets. (www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns9999972)
05 July 01
"NASA is thinking about using nuclear boosters to lift rockets into orbit at a fraction of the cost of today's all-chemical launchers."
Little is given out about the actual concept.....
"Adams will describe conceptual plans for a "nuclear-enhanced air-breathing rocket" at a meeting of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in Salt Lake City, Utah, next week. A uranium dioxide fission reactor will heat hydrogen from an on-board tank to 2500 °C. The hot hydrogen will then be mixed with air from outside the rocket and combusted at almost 4000 °C.
After lift-off, a chemical rocket would first be used to accelerate the rocket to Mach 2, before the nuclear engine was triggered. "You wouldn't fire this reactor up until we got about 30,000 feet off the ground," he says.
Adams's calculations show that a nuclear-assisted rocket could produce far more thrust than conventional rockets. It would also be lighter and be able to lift a bigger fraction of its starting mass into orbit - perhaps as much as 45 per cent. "With existing systems, it's more like 10 per cent," he says.
Whether the rockets will ever be safe enough to carry astronauts is not yet clear. "We'd have to do a lot more calculations on the radiation side of things," says Adams."
Then today New Scientist followed up on the Prometheus story and gave mention to this nuclear-enhanced air breathing rocket again....
NASA boosts nuclear propulsion plans. (www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993285)
"NASA researchers have also suggested "nuclear-enhanced air-breathing rockets" to launch spacecraft from Earth. In these, a uranium dioxide fission reactor would heat hydrogen from an on-board tank to 2500°C. The hot hydrogen would then be mixed with air from outside the rocket and combusted at almost 4000 °C."
Granted. It is a long shot. But it is still an interesting possibility. What if Prometheus really is a revolutionary new launch system? Here's what I could find on air breathing nuclear engines.
Search Results for "nuclear-enhanced air-breathing rocket" were scant.
1. Nuclear-enhanced air-breathing rocket.[/link] - [link=www.ezboard.com]www.ezboard.com (pub97.ezboard.com/fnuclearspacefrm4.showMessage?topicID=23.topic) - Author, Comment. projectorion (2/9/02 8:19:59 pm)
Most of the results are posts at NS and other sites who copied out the New Scientist article. I know I started a more recent one on nuclear ramjets which had some great links but I'll dig that out later to see if it has anything relevant.
There were only 5 results from the search.
search.yahoo.com/bin/search?p=nuclear-enhanced+air-breathing+rocket
http://www.merkle.com/pluto/fig4.jpg
Here are some related articles I dug up from the NS archives.
A Nuclear Ramjet Flyer for Exploration of Jovian Atmosphere. (std.msfc.nasa.gov/ast/abstracts/7E_Maise.html)
That's from Plus Ultra Technologies. The ones who came up with MITEE. Some bright chappies.
'Project Pluto' studied nuclear ramjet propulsion. (www.nv.doe.gov/news&pubs/publications/historyreports/news&views/pluto.htm)
The US had a Nuclear ramjet program which ran from 1957 to 1964. It was known as Project Pluto. The enormous ramjet was successfully tested on many runs.
For those who get Discovery Wings Channel via cable or satellite, they have an hour-long documentary on Project Pluto which they run every few months. It contains fascinating film of the project.
The Flying Crowbar. (www.merkle.com/pluto/pluto.html)
Anti-nuclear article with some nice pictures.
The Nuclear Ramjet. (me.eng.sunysb.edu/mec290/projectpluto/)
This web page will introduce you to the union of jet power and nuclear power in the form of the Nuclear Ramjet.
A search on Project Pluto yielded 131,000 results but most were unrelated or the same pages as those already listed above.
http://www.merkle.com/pluto/cover.jpg
:bugeye: :eek:
One interesting piece of trivia is that Arthur C Clarke's early novel "Prelude to space" had a nuclear powered ram jet for the first stage of a moon mission. It too was called "Prometheus". I wonder if there is a connection?
Simon Mansfield who owns Spacedaily told me that a new article is coming out tomorrow. His top science reporter Bruce Moomaw has dug up some interesting factoids on Prometheus. I wonder if it doesn't turn out to be nothing more than a hyped up nuclear electric rocket.
:cool:
From the rumour mill at NuclearSpace.com (http://www.nuclearspace.com)
Here's the original clue that got me thinking Prometheus could be a launch system. It was a low key article over a year ago, largely missed by other internet media or ignored.
NASA considers nuclear boosters for space rockets. (www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns9999972)
05 July 01
"NASA is thinking about using nuclear boosters to lift rockets into orbit at a fraction of the cost of today's all-chemical launchers."
Little is given out about the actual concept.....
"Adams will describe conceptual plans for a "nuclear-enhanced air-breathing rocket" at a meeting of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in Salt Lake City, Utah, next week. A uranium dioxide fission reactor will heat hydrogen from an on-board tank to 2500 °C. The hot hydrogen will then be mixed with air from outside the rocket and combusted at almost 4000 °C.
After lift-off, a chemical rocket would first be used to accelerate the rocket to Mach 2, before the nuclear engine was triggered. "You wouldn't fire this reactor up until we got about 30,000 feet off the ground," he says.
Adams's calculations show that a nuclear-assisted rocket could produce far more thrust than conventional rockets. It would also be lighter and be able to lift a bigger fraction of its starting mass into orbit - perhaps as much as 45 per cent. "With existing systems, it's more like 10 per cent," he says.
Whether the rockets will ever be safe enough to carry astronauts is not yet clear. "We'd have to do a lot more calculations on the radiation side of things," says Adams."
Then today New Scientist followed up on the Prometheus story and gave mention to this nuclear-enhanced air breathing rocket again....
NASA boosts nuclear propulsion plans. (www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993285)
"NASA researchers have also suggested "nuclear-enhanced air-breathing rockets" to launch spacecraft from Earth. In these, a uranium dioxide fission reactor would heat hydrogen from an on-board tank to 2500°C. The hot hydrogen would then be mixed with air from outside the rocket and combusted at almost 4000 °C."
Granted. It is a long shot. But it is still an interesting possibility. What if Prometheus really is a revolutionary new launch system? Here's what I could find on air breathing nuclear engines.
Search Results for "nuclear-enhanced air-breathing rocket" were scant.
1. Nuclear-enhanced air-breathing rocket.[/link] - [link=www.ezboard.com]www.ezboard.com (pub97.ezboard.com/fnuclearspacefrm4.showMessage?topicID=23.topic) - Author, Comment. projectorion (2/9/02 8:19:59 pm)
Most of the results are posts at NS and other sites who copied out the New Scientist article. I know I started a more recent one on nuclear ramjets which had some great links but I'll dig that out later to see if it has anything relevant.
There were only 5 results from the search.
search.yahoo.com/bin/search?p=nuclear-enhanced+air-breathing+rocket
http://www.merkle.com/pluto/fig4.jpg
Here are some related articles I dug up from the NS archives.
A Nuclear Ramjet Flyer for Exploration of Jovian Atmosphere. (std.msfc.nasa.gov/ast/abstracts/7E_Maise.html)
That's from Plus Ultra Technologies. The ones who came up with MITEE. Some bright chappies.
'Project Pluto' studied nuclear ramjet propulsion. (www.nv.doe.gov/news&pubs/publications/historyreports/news&views/pluto.htm)
The US had a Nuclear ramjet program which ran from 1957 to 1964. It was known as Project Pluto. The enormous ramjet was successfully tested on many runs.
For those who get Discovery Wings Channel via cable or satellite, they have an hour-long documentary on Project Pluto which they run every few months. It contains fascinating film of the project.
The Flying Crowbar. (www.merkle.com/pluto/pluto.html)
Anti-nuclear article with some nice pictures.
The Nuclear Ramjet. (me.eng.sunysb.edu/mec290/projectpluto/)
This web page will introduce you to the union of jet power and nuclear power in the form of the Nuclear Ramjet.
A search on Project Pluto yielded 131,000 results but most were unrelated or the same pages as those already listed above.
http://www.merkle.com/pluto/cover.jpg
:bugeye: :eek:
One interesting piece of trivia is that Arthur C Clarke's early novel "Prelude to space" had a nuclear powered ram jet for the first stage of a moon mission. It too was called "Prometheus". I wonder if there is a connection?
Simon Mansfield who owns Spacedaily told me that a new article is coming out tomorrow. His top science reporter Bruce Moomaw has dug up some interesting factoids on Prometheus. I wonder if it doesn't turn out to be nothing more than a hyped up nuclear electric rocket.
:cool: