The new Age of astronautics

Astronautics

The minimum orbital velocity of the Earth is about 25,000 feet a second, rocket fuel exhausts at about 20,000 feet per second.

Because adding fuel increases velocity logarithmically, it is obvious that there is a very finite amount of fuel and response time that can be added. Doubling the amount of rocket fuel only adds ln(2) times the time, or about .69 times, tripling the amount of fuel. adds ln3 or about 1.098 times the amount of time the fuel lasts, and in order to have ten times the response time you would need about 22,000 times the rocket fuel.

There is a finite limit of the velocity of a rocket. If the entire universe were converted to rocket fuel, the mass would be the mass of the sun, about 2.0*10^30kg, an average sized star, times 100,000,000,000 stars in a galaxy times an estimated 100,000,000,000 galaxies, plus an estimated ten times the mass in dark matter, yielding 2.0*10^30kg*100*10^9*100*10^9*10, or 2.0*10^53kg. Taking the ratio of the Saturn V rocket, about 6*10^6lbs or 2.718*10^6kg, yields a ratio of about 7.36*10^46. The logarithm is about 107.9, meaning that if the whole universe were converted to rocket fuel, the Saturn V could only go about 108 times faster. This is incredible! (When I began doing these calculations, the space shuttle was not in existence.)


Yet current technology easily allows us to fly spacecraft more than a hundred times the velocity of the Saturn V, if we use fission.


In the current space age, the chemical age, the life of a rocket motor is measured in seconds, and missions are calculated in milliseconds. Fission allows engines to last for many hours. This opens the door for space travel beyond our imagination.
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Flying a manned spacecraft using fission in the solar system


I propose a manned mission flown by mission and payload specialists. Where would they fly?

The Earth is a double planet, so we would have to be beyond the pull of both the Earth and the moon, perhaps a million miles away. Realistically an average mission specialist cannot orbit the Earth closer than the moon.


Our first main consideration is the gravitational pull of the sun. At an average distance of about 93*10^6 miles, the gravity of the sun is about 1/800th of the Earth's gravity, or about .00125g or about 1.25cm/second/second.

To realistically travel in space we would need a safety factor of about ten, or about ten times 1/800th of a g or 1/80th of a g, or about 12.5cm/second/second.






Our next priority is debris. There are meteor showers; places where the Earth has collided with a comet and debris is left. We cannot travel near the Earth when the planet is near one of these clouds of debris.

Where would the mission go? The main criteria are radiation and debris. For example, a comet may have an irregular orbit due to ice vaporizing and perturbing the orbit, an unstable surface as ice melts and vaporizes, and of course a tail that might equal the size of Earth. Therefore a comet is out of the question.



We need to change our way of thinking. The reason space travel is measured in seconds and milliseconds is because a chemical rocket has a very limited lifespan. The nuclear age opens up the door. With fission as energy source life of an engine is measured in days and weeks.


It is obvious the Earth is a double planet, has measurable but insignificant hyperspace, debris, and atmosphere. This means it is impossible for a mission specialist to fly a manned spacecraft in an Earth orbit. Because it requires thousands of times the amount of rocket fuel to realistically extend the response time, it will never be feasible for a mission specialist to orbit the Earth.

When better nuclear engines become available we will fly further away from the sun.


While 1/800 g, or about .00125g does not seem much, if an object were to accelerate at this rate in two days it would be traveling at over a mile a second.







I would like to be the first mission specialist to fly a spacecraft. If I can do it, anybody can.