| ▲ | no_wizard 4 days ago |
| What about a fission reactor? |
|
| ▲ | lazide 4 days ago | parent | next [-] |
| It would likely need a standalone fission reactor that only ‘goes hot’ when it arrives. I’m not sure that we have the engineering ability to actually do that with any real chance of success after a 100 year deep space flight, or the willingness to wait that long to find out. |
|
| ▲ | ekianjo 4 days ago | parent | prev [-] |
| That runs for dozens of years without maintenance? And how do you dissipate the heat? |
| |
| ▲ | yread 4 days ago | parent [-] | | Open the rear end and you get propulsion as well. Just don't start close to earth | | |
| ▲ | sfink 3 days ago | parent [-] | | You still need matter to carry the heat, and matter is heavy (by definition!) Radiating the heat isn't going to be enough if you want to send anything other than a blob of plasma. Which is an interesting thought when considered as a weapon. Fire a self-immolating fission reactor at your target... | | |
| ▲ | lazide 3 days ago | parent [-] | | I miss the days when a Bussard Ramjet was a viable dream. Also, if there are aliens there, sending a highly radioactive blob of plasma at them at interstellar speeds might cause a little trouble. |
|
|
|
