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| Nicholas Copernicus (February 19, 1473-May 24, 1543) |
Projhect Orion Rejuvinated
A D-He3 fusion pulse refit of the Project Orion Starship
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Possible interstellar destination for Project Orion
Previously, I talked about Projects Daedalus and Icarus from which Orion borrows from for its rebirth. This time I will talk about possible target star systems for an Orion interstellar mission and will focus on nearby stars. Plus today is the 540th birthday of the Polish cleric/astronomer known as Nicholas Copernicus who started what would be known as the Copernican Revolution. Copernicus made the daring proposition that the Earth was one of the planets and that it orbited the sun and that is what really launched the Copernican Revolution. Finding a habitable planet around another star similar to Earth is the holy grail to astronomy and the pinocle of the Copernican Revolution. it is only appropriate to write this particular post about possible destinations for the refit Orion Starship on the birthday of the man who started the revolution that leads to discovery of planets around other stars in his honor.
The most likely destination for Project Orion is Alpha Centauri (a.k.a. Rigel Kentaurus, Rigel Kent, Toliman, or Bungula) which is only 4.37 light-years away and the nearest star system to us. There is hope that there are Earth-like planets in the habitable zone around either of the two stars. So far; only one planet has been detected in the Alpha Centauri star system, Alpha Centauri Bb. Unfortunately, Alpha Centauri Bb too close to its star; Alpha Centauri B, to support life. Hopefully there will be discoveries in the near future of earth-like planets orbiting in the habitable zone of either Alpha Centauri A or B.
Another candidate for an Orion mission is Epsilon Eridani which is 10.5 light-years away and has a few gas giants orbiting it. Epsilon Eridani B is a gas giant in a highly elliptical orbit which at closest approach is still farther out form its star than the habitable zone of that star is. There is possibility of Titan-like moons around Epsilon Eridani B with the molecules of life. To be frank Epsilon Eridani is only 800 million years old and is too young to harbor any intelligent or complex life and life there at best is primitive.
Another option is Tau Ceti 11.9 light-years away. Tau Ceti (a.k.a. Durre Menthor), like Alpha Centauri, is yet another candidate for complex life and intelligent life. There is now possibility of a few planets orbiting Tau Ceti as I read recently on the Tau Zero Foundation's Centauri Dreams. According to the linked Centauri Dreams Article on five planet candidates around tau Ceti, one of the candidates is in the habitable zone. In fact Tau Ceti e and f both orbit within the star's habitable zone if they exist.
Who knows what life we may find on the planets of the nearby stars. In the next post I will talk about scientific speculations of what alien life might look like with a Star Wars eel as a possibility of life around the nearby stars instead of in a galaxy far, far away.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Icarus and Daedalus
Previously I talked about the original state of Project Orion and its first life as an attempt to develop an atomic bomb-propelled spacecraft. Now I will talk about later so-called "post-Orion" theoretical studies in nuclear pulse propulsion from which lay the groundwork for the new propulsion system for Project Orion. Starting in the late 1960s and early 1970s, researchers started banning the bomb from nuclear pulse propulsion studies.
One famous study was a five-year study done by the British Interplanetary Society in the 1970s called Project Daedalus. Daedalus was a concept for an interstellar probe flyby mission to Barnard's Star. The 190m long and about 175m wide Daedalus spacecraft was designed to be two stages and to accelerate a 450 tonne payload to 12% of the speed of light. Daedalus was the first concept designed to utilize deuterium-helium3 fusion and was planned to have its helium3 mined from the atmosphere of Jupiter. A Daedalus spacecraft would have a total departure mass of 54,000 tonnes counting 50,000 tonnes of propellent alone with only 4,000 tonnes of dry mass and that includes the 450 tonne payload. Daedalus would not decelerate to the destination and instead fly by it at 12%c. Plus there would be dispatch probes stored in the top of the payload bay just beneath the erosion shied and and astronomy deck with telescopes right below. Daedalus is too massive for humanity's first interstellar spacecraft and that is where a Project Icarus and Project Orion will later come in. Orion borrows its second primary propulsion system, dispatch probes, and astronomy deck all from Project Daedalus even before Icarus was started. Below is a blueprint of Daedalus drawn by Rick Sternbeck and and computer generated model of the Daedalus spacecraft.
Project Icarus is a current five-year joint study between the aforementioned British Interplanetary Society and the Tau Zero Foundation and starts from where Daedalus left off. Unlike Daedalus, Icarus is designed to decelerate to its target star system to explore it in far more detail than its predecessor. Icarus will also have a secondary propulsion system such as a light sail or a magsail for deceleration to save propellent and make it less massive than Daedalus. Icarus my even use antimatter to assist in its D-He3 fusion. Also unlike Daedalus, Icarus will not have its helium3 mined from Jupiter and instead it will be mind elsewhere in our solar system such as on Uranus. Icarus Started on September 30, 2009 and will conclude in 2014. Below are three computer generated illustrations of three designs for Project Icarus.
Even before Icarus, I considered using a secondary propulsion system for Orion such as a magsail to decelerate to its destination and to make it less massive than Daedalus. In light of Icarus, Orion may even use a little antimatter for an anti-matter assisted D-He3 fusion pulse propulsion system in its return.
So I will discuss the possible interstellar destinations for Project Orion in the future under its refit of a Daedalus/Icarus-style propulsion system.
One famous study was a five-year study done by the British Interplanetary Society in the 1970s called Project Daedalus. Daedalus was a concept for an interstellar probe flyby mission to Barnard's Star. The 190m long and about 175m wide Daedalus spacecraft was designed to be two stages and to accelerate a 450 tonne payload to 12% of the speed of light. Daedalus was the first concept designed to utilize deuterium-helium3 fusion and was planned to have its helium3 mined from the atmosphere of Jupiter. A Daedalus spacecraft would have a total departure mass of 54,000 tonnes counting 50,000 tonnes of propellent alone with only 4,000 tonnes of dry mass and that includes the 450 tonne payload. Daedalus would not decelerate to the destination and instead fly by it at 12%c. Plus there would be dispatch probes stored in the top of the payload bay just beneath the erosion shied and and astronomy deck with telescopes right below. Daedalus is too massive for humanity's first interstellar spacecraft and that is where a Project Icarus and Project Orion will later come in. Orion borrows its second primary propulsion system, dispatch probes, and astronomy deck all from Project Daedalus even before Icarus was started. Below is a blueprint of Daedalus drawn by Rick Sternbeck and and computer generated model of the Daedalus spacecraft.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Project Orion as it was at first
Let me tell you something about Project Orion for the seven years that it first lasted from 1958 until 1965. As I mentioned in the previous post which is the first post on this blog, Orion was originally designed to utilize a succession of nuclear explosion behind a pusher plate.
In 1958, General Atomic in my hometown of San Diego started development of a spacecraft to explore our entire solar system and even the nearby stars. it is from the ultimate objective of going to the stars that they got the name Orion after the famous constellation of a man in the sky called Orion the Hunter. The motto at the time was "Saturn by 1970". Orion was kept top secret at the time of its first life because of its intended use of nuclear explosives as a propulsion and fuel. Theodore Taylor was the original head of Project Orion and another key participant was a physicist Freeman Dyson. In its first life and to this day, no actual spacecraft has ever emerged from Project Orion yet, but there were several small unmanned flight test vehicles many of which were damaged and destroyed. But in late 1959, the first successful test of one of those flight test vehicles took place and was followed by another flight test shortly after in celebration. This successful flight test vehicle was named "Putt-putt" or "Hot Rod". All of the flight test vehicles used chemical explosives. In 1960 Project Orion began to lose momentum and support in Congress and the United States government. And there was competition from chemical and conventional nuclear rockets. A video of Project Orion was shown to Werner Von Braun but it was too little too late since NASA likes to be as open as possible and Orion at the time was too secretive. A bigger problem than just the secrecy was the radiation that would have resulted from the nuclear weapons explosions propelling the spacecraft. In 1963, John F Kennedy wrote the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty which was signed by the Untied States, Great Britain, and Soviet Russia. The 1963 Nuclear Test Ban Treaty forbids nuclear weapons explosions in space and thus sealed Orion's fate. Project Orion eventually died in 1965 as a result of this treaty. Freeman Dyson said that this was the first time in history when such advancements in technology have been suppressed for political reasons and he was right.
There were several spacecraft designs for Project Orion such as the bullet shape which varied in size, a design featured in Carl Sagan's Cosmos drawn by Rick Sternbeck and the Orion design shown above and below this paragraph form which I borrow for my Project Daedalus/Icarus-style fusion pulse propelled variant. I will talk about Daedalus and Icarus in the next post since they are two concepts that I borrow from in rejuvenating Orion.
Despite its demise, there has been talk of possible rebirth of Project Orion which as far as I know all but what I say is about bringing it back with the same propulsion system it was originally intended to use. I take it one whole refit further and change the propulsion to a safer and more efficient propulsion system.
In 1958, General Atomic in my hometown of San Diego started development of a spacecraft to explore our entire solar system and even the nearby stars. it is from the ultimate objective of going to the stars that they got the name Orion after the famous constellation of a man in the sky called Orion the Hunter. The motto at the time was "Saturn by 1970". Orion was kept top secret at the time of its first life because of its intended use of nuclear explosives as a propulsion and fuel. Theodore Taylor was the original head of Project Orion and another key participant was a physicist Freeman Dyson. In its first life and to this day, no actual spacecraft has ever emerged from Project Orion yet, but there were several small unmanned flight test vehicles many of which were damaged and destroyed. But in late 1959, the first successful test of one of those flight test vehicles took place and was followed by another flight test shortly after in celebration. This successful flight test vehicle was named "Putt-putt" or "Hot Rod". All of the flight test vehicles used chemical explosives. In 1960 Project Orion began to lose momentum and support in Congress and the United States government. And there was competition from chemical and conventional nuclear rockets. A video of Project Orion was shown to Werner Von Braun but it was too little too late since NASA likes to be as open as possible and Orion at the time was too secretive. A bigger problem than just the secrecy was the radiation that would have resulted from the nuclear weapons explosions propelling the spacecraft. In 1963, John F Kennedy wrote the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty which was signed by the Untied States, Great Britain, and Soviet Russia. The 1963 Nuclear Test Ban Treaty forbids nuclear weapons explosions in space and thus sealed Orion's fate. Project Orion eventually died in 1965 as a result of this treaty. Freeman Dyson said that this was the first time in history when such advancements in technology have been suppressed for political reasons and he was right.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Introduction and Blog Rules
Hello, I am Timothy McHugh the self-appointed chief designer of the Project Orion Renaissance and I am designing a deuterium-helium3 fusion pulse Orion starship ever since I first conceived the refit in the morning of Thursday, February 18, 1999. I used to call the D-He3 Orion "Orion II" or "Project Orion II" but I just now call it Orion and a part of the first Project Orion. Project Orion was first started in top secret in 1958 and was originally intended to use nuclear explosives behind a pusher plate for propulsion and was under development until being shut down in 1965. Orion was terminated because of the signing of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty which forbids nuclear weapons explosions in space. Plus there is talk of a potential comeback of Project Orion as in this article called Project Orion: It's Life, Death, and Possible Rebirth written by Michael Flora but the article talks about Orion returning with the same propulsion that it was originally intended to use. I take it a whole refit further by changing Orion's propulsion system to the D-He3 inertial confinement fusion pulse propulsion system which Project Daedalus in the 1970s and the current Project Icarus spacecraft were designed to use.
Project Orion Renaissance No-No's:
1) Never voice any bigotry whether it be based of color, gender, nationality, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender identity. All hate speech will be removed and bigots who engage in hate speech will be blocked.
2) There is zero tolerance for the brand of Anti-Lion King Fanaticism which an infamous amateur film critic known as Confused Matthew and a YouTube commentator known as SuperGzilla12 and their loyal fans harbor. I will block anyone who dares to tell me that Simba, Timon, and Pumbaa are assholes, selfish, greedy, lazy, or evil.
3) I will not tolerate anyone daring to tell me that Star Trek promotes racism or that the United Federation of Planets is a communist regime as touted by the likes of Michael Wong and his StarDestroyer.Net and will block such people who say those types of things.
4) I will not tolerate any trash talk about James Cameron's Avatar such as the notion that it was poorly done, that it is homophobic, that it rips off other movies like Dances With Wolves, etc and will block such nincompoops who say those types of things about my current favorite movie just to discredit it. I will also block those who endorse genocidal fantasies against Avatar like a YouTube user known as Radith87 who made two "How Avatar Should Have Ended" videos glorifying the use of the Death Star to destroy Pandora.
Now that I hope you are acquainted with my blog and agree to my rules of not to do any of the no-no's that I listed above.
Project Orion Renaissance No-No's:
1) Never voice any bigotry whether it be based of color, gender, nationality, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender identity. All hate speech will be removed and bigots who engage in hate speech will be blocked.
2) There is zero tolerance for the brand of Anti-Lion King Fanaticism which an infamous amateur film critic known as Confused Matthew and a YouTube commentator known as SuperGzilla12 and their loyal fans harbor. I will block anyone who dares to tell me that Simba, Timon, and Pumbaa are assholes, selfish, greedy, lazy, or evil.
3) I will not tolerate anyone daring to tell me that Star Trek promotes racism or that the United Federation of Planets is a communist regime as touted by the likes of Michael Wong and his StarDestroyer.Net and will block such people who say those types of things.
4) I will not tolerate any trash talk about James Cameron's Avatar such as the notion that it was poorly done, that it is homophobic, that it rips off other movies like Dances With Wolves, etc and will block such nincompoops who say those types of things about my current favorite movie just to discredit it. I will also block those who endorse genocidal fantasies against Avatar like a YouTube user known as Radith87 who made two "How Avatar Should Have Ended" videos glorifying the use of the Death Star to destroy Pandora.
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