Fission rockets could open up the solar system
Updated: 2012-02-06 21:20:08
skip to main skip to sidebar Pages Home Timeslide View Flipcard February 06, 2012 Fission rockets could open up the solar system Although the nascent commercial space industry is focusing almost exclusively on chemical rockets , the inefficiency of chemical propulsion places serious limitations on orbital and extra-orbital activities . The most efficient liquid propellant combination , employing liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen , requires cryogenic storage and large hydrogen fuel tanks . Fission rockets are substantially more efficient than chemical rockets , are safe to operate , and could be used to send humans to mars . In an interview with Sander Olson , fission propulsion advocate Tabitha Smith argues that fission rockets could be rapidly developed and become the enabling technology
Skip to main . content HS Home Space for All Space Transport News Archives About Contact NewSpace Log 12 NewSpace Log 11 On Twitter On Facebook NewSpace Employment Jobs Place your job ad here Further details Bigelow Aerospace Blue Origin Masten Space Scaled Composites The Spaceship Company SpaceDev SNC SpaceX Tethers Unlimited TGV-Rockets XCOR FAA Commercial Space Transportation Conf Washington . D.C Feb . 15-16, 2012 Next-Gen Suborbital Researchers Conf NASA Ames Mountain View , CA Feb . 27-29, 2012 Space Access Society Phoenix , AZ April 12-14, 2012 Spacecraft Technology Expo Los Angeles , CA May 8-9, 2012 ISDC 2012 Washington , . D.C May 24-28, 2012 NewSpace 2012 NASA Ames Mountain View , CA July 26-29, 2012 Tip Jar Regular readers can support HobbySpace with a contribution via credit :
: Skip to content Parabolic Arc Space Tourism and Much More News Search Archives Parabolic Reading List Polls Archive Alan Stern Visits The Space Show Whitesides : Powered SpaceShipTwo Flights Planned for Summer Posted by Doug Messier on February 6, 2012, at 12:15 pm in News Tags : George Whitesides Scaled Composites space tourism space tourists SpaceShipTwo virgin galactic WhiteKnightTwo Comments : no responses 0 Comments Virgin Galactic CEO and President George Whitesides says powered SpaceShipTwo flights are set for this summer in : Mojave Over the next few months we’re integrating parts and pieces of the hybrid rocket motor into the SpaceShipTwo airframe , completing ground testing of the rocket motor , and then will try and start powered flight over the summer , 8221 Whitesides told
: : , , , , , , Space Prizes prizes to inspire space technology achievements Monday , February 06, 2012 Space Prize Roundup : Night Rover Plans , Sample Return Updates , SFF Biz Plans , Visualizing Science , Data Fusion , SPHERES , more The Night Rover Challenge is presenting a slide presentation on its main page : Night Rover Challenge January 2012 In addition to the main challenge itself , they are planning a number of related events , including an innovation summit , student competitions , educational events , technology expositions and workshops , and more . nbsp Anousheh Ansari is featured as one of the board members , along with a number of other prominent . innovators Scientific visions that take the prize Cosmic Log Space Frontier Foundation and NASA Announce 110,000 in NewSpace
: Monday , February 6, 2012 LROC releases 57 narrow angle elevation models False color model of the highest vents of the many Marius Hills now believed to be a single shield volcano in central Oceanus Procellarum , a region which may have remained active until 1.1 billion years ago . Nearby bottom , north is the tadpole head of the unofficially named Sinuous Rille A . This area was a prime potential landing site in the Apollo era , more recently in the second tier of 50 Constellation Regions of Interest . The low profile of the Marius Hills , surrounded by relatively flat Procellarum mare , has made appreciating their anatomy difficult except after local sunrise and before local sunset when even low features cast long shadows . LROC Narrow Angle Camera photography taken from overhead and
Mars is often referred to as a desert world, and for good reason – its surface is barren, dry and cold. While water was abundant in the distant past, it has long since disappeared from the surface, although ice, snow, frost and fog are still common. Other than liquid brines possibly trickling at times, all [...]
Subscribe Today Renew Give a Gift Archives Customer Service Facebook Twitter Newsletter SEARCH Health Medicine Mind Brain Technology Space Human Origins Living World Environment Physics Math Video Photos Podcast RSS An astronomer’s paradise OK , a couple of more things about a Moon base Superbowl science 2012 Today in America is our most revered holiday : the Superbowl . I am not particularly invested in either team I had to look up who’s playing , to be honest but there is something about the game I like : science Yes , science of which there is plenty to be had during any sporting event . You just have to look for . it Last year , during the big game , I tweeted a series of science facts relating to football , and , when the game was over , collected them into a blog post I thought it
Habitable zones are the regions around stars, including our own Sun, where conditions are the most favourable for the development of life on any rocky planets that happen to orbit within them. Generally, they are regions where temperatures allow for liquid water to exist on the surface of these planets and are ideal for “life [...]
skip to main skip to sidebar Pages Home Timeslide View Flipcard February 03, 2012 Bullet Proof Polymer with equal parts graphene and carbon nanotubes tougher than Kevlar University of Wollongong researchers have used graphene to develop a new composite material which can produce the toughest fibres to date- even tougher than spider silk and Kevlar Graphene , the latest discovery in the nano world of carbon , has proven to be an amazing building block for advanced materials . The new graphene composite can be wet-spun into fibres with potential applications in bullet-proof vests and reinforcements for advanced composite . materials As published today in Nature Communications , researchers from the UOW-based Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science ACES have shown that graphene can
. Science Buzz Be a part of the Buzz Register or log in Site Navigation Site Navigation Blog Topics The Space Debate Future Earth Weighing the evidence Archive Features Object of the Month Scientist on the Spot Changing Seasons Browse Images Browse Tags Links Community Latest comments Contribute Buzz points Scientists Teachers Community Guidelines Member Gallery Exhibit Buzz kiosks About Where is Science Buzz Awards Credits Your feedback will help us improve this website Copyright Information Privacy Help Feb 03 2012 SpaceX tests turbo flamethrower or possibly a new . rocket by JGordon 0 comments in Earth and Space Science Why is that spaceship covered in flamethrowers Oh . Maybe they're . rockets Courtesy SpaceX With the closure of NASA’s flamethrower program , flamethrower enthusiasts
skip to main skip to sidebar Pages Home Timeslide View Flipcard February 03, 2012 New super-Earth detected within the habitable zone of a nearby star University of California at Santa Cruz- An international team of scientists has discovered a potentially habitable super-Earth orbiting a nearby . star With an orbital period of about 28 days and a minimum mass 4.5 times that of the Earth , the planet orbits within the star's habitable zone , where temperatures are neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water to exist on the planet's surface . The researchers found evidence of at least one and possibly two or three additional planets orbiting the star , which is about 22 light years from . Earth The newly discovered planet is depicted in this artist's conception , showing the host star as
skip to main skip to sidebar Pages Home Timeslide View Flipcard February 02, 2012 Bold Adventurers and Entertaining Storytellers will Profitably lead the way into Space This is an update to my previous article about true industries and reasons for . space Some people talk about mining helium 3. Helium 3 is valuable when you first have working commercial aneutronic nuclear fusion . Even in my more optimistic assessment that is not until the 2020s . Earth can get billions of tons of rare earth materials off the ocean bottom recent Japan find or can get uranium from the ocean Japan can do it for about 150 per pound , there is 4 billion tons in the ocean The true larger industries for space Information and satellite servicing Tourism Entertainment Colonization Information and satellite
skip to main skip to sidebar Pages Home Timeslide View Flipcard February 02, 2012 Carnival of Nuclear Energy 89 The Carnival of Nuclear energy 89 is up at Idaho Samizdat ANS Nuclear Cafe The U.S . Department of Defense DOD is working with the . U.S Department of Energy to develop a long-term strategy to embrace and implement these directives for military installations that includes small modular reactors SMRs in the mix of clean energy . technologies Dept of Defense wants power systems located within the boundaries of a military installation or possibly on federal land to service a number of agencies within a region for providing secure and uninterruptable power supplies for mission-critical base facility energy . requirements Eighty installations were considered with peak power ranging
Early last year, I posted about an iPad app developed by Mr. Shigeo Saito of the Japan Space Elevator Association (JSEA). Recently I learned that he has ported this application from the iPad to the iPhone - so, if you have an iPhone (and, I think there are a few of you that do), then [...]
Subscribe Today Renew Give a Gift Archives Customer Service Facebook Twitter Newsletter SEARCH Health Medicine Mind Brain Technology Space Human Origins Living World Environment Physics Math Video Photos Podcast RSS Q BA : What happens if you are exposed to the vacuum of space What caused the Little Ice Age Amazing moonset video taken from space Thanks to astronaut Ron Garan on Google+ I was alerted to some amazing footage of the Moon setting as seen by astronauts on board the International Space Station . I uploaded it to YouTube and added some comments to show you something really cool Set it to high-def and make it full screen Astonishing , isn’t it As the Moon sets , you’re seeing it through thicker and thicker air . The air acts like a lens , bending the light upward . The part of the
Subscribe Today Renew Give a Gift Archives Customer Service Facebook Twitter Newsletter SEARCH Health Medicine Mind Brain Technology Space Human Origins Living World Environment Physics Math Video Photos Podcast RSS Mesmerizing , towering loops of solar magnetism Strange yet cool VLA time lapse video Dione and Mimas have a mutual event As Cassini weaves its way around the multiple moons of Saturn , it’s not really a coincidence when one gets in the way of another . As a matter of fact , it’s a guarantee . These are called mutual events and when Cassini dove past Dione , it saw this terrific view of Mimas peeking out from behind : it Nifty , huh Click to encronosenate . Dione is nearly 3 times larger than Mimas 1100 versus 400 km wide but Mimas was also more than 6 times farther away ,
David Appell, PhD and independent science journalist, has penned an article about the Space Elevator, partly based on his experience attending last year’s Space Elevator conference in Redmond.
At some point, it’s supposed to appear in the UK Magazine “Physics World” but you can read it now on his website. It’s a fairly comprehensive article.
And the [...]
The first issue of ISEC’s Space Elevator Journal is now here! Volume 1 / Number 1 (publication date - December, 2011) is hot off the presses and will soon be sent out to all ISEC members (past and present) and Journal contributors.
The Journal consists of 8 peer-reviewed Papers plus some additional articles that I think [...]