/sci/ - Science & Math

TL'DR whats NERVA?

>>2187950
lol u dont even no what nerva is

>>2187959
Lol you're an attention whore on the internet because your social life is a failure.

>>2187950
Its like NERV from Evangelion.

>>2187950

nuclear engine for space ships/

it could help us colonize the solar system

>>2187964
why do u say that

>>2187978
Ok thanks. I feel slightly more educated now.

>mfw I know regulators will never let them shoot that much nuclear material into space

I remember when I first heard about this... I was going to tell /sci/, but I was too busy pic related'ing.

Seems pretty damn impressive but whats with the dead sea scrolls what is their relevancy

I hope not, NERVA never lived up to the promises. Many haven't heard of it but the initial tests yielded only 40% of the expected efficiency.

>>2187987

it would obviously need to be funded by the government.

it could happen. SpaceX is determined.

>>2187997

Still better most designs of nuclear-electric spacecraft.

>>2187996

I know one of those words there is Hydrogen, I just do.

>>2187997
What are you talking about? NERVA exceeded its program goals, only reason it never came around to use is because Nixon's Administration completely fucked over NASA.

Obvious ploy to attract investors while never carrying through on their grandiose promises is obvious.

>>2188003

>>Still better most designs of nuclear-electric spacecraft.

NERVA isn't nuclear electric, it's nuclear thermal, like nuclear pulse propulsion or the nuclear lightbulb drive (both of which are far superior to it.)

Also, sup.

>>2188029

>>What are you talking about? NERVA exceeded its program goals, only reason it never came around to use is because Nixon's Administration completely fucked over NASA.

http://www.universetoday.com/32722/nuclear-propulsion/

"Unfortunately this type of propulsion is highly inefficient as the temperatures needed to make it truly effective would actually melt any known material now used to make rockets. To prevent this, the engine would have to lose 40% of its efficiency."

>>2187987
No shitting. I worked on a project that involves several RTGs and the amount of safety analysis that needed/still needs to be done even for such a relatively small amount of nuclear material to be launched is massive (several years already).

>>2188029

>mfw you'll pay for your insolence

>you'll pay.

>>2188041
What're you going to do about it? You've been dead for years.

>>2188045


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vote nixon.

>>2188031

I know, but I can still compare apples with oranges, no?

NERVA is nuclear thermal, better than most nuclear-electric because of thrust and travel times (The whole VASIMR: 30 days to Mars thing is bullshit since due to politics we have no space-based nuclear reactors capable of fueling such giants)

>>2188037
I had not read about that, thanks for the link. Still even with the efficiency loss wouldn't it be better than our current rocket fueled engines? It doesn't really say in that link.

>>2188056
I'll break into peoples houses and wreck up the place!!

>>2188074
same,
nvm I guess I skipped over the part where they talked about it when I read it the first time.

>>2188074

>>I had not read about that, thanks for the link. Still even with the efficiency loss wouldn't it be better than our current rocket fueled engines? It doesn't really say in that link.

Sure, but it has drawbacks similar to other nuclear thermal propulsion systems; it'd be very dirty to launch from earth to orbit as the exhaust would be radioactive.

If you're going to go the nuclear thermal route you may as well start building Orion vessels and launching them from old nuclear test sites.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_pulse_propulsion

You get unprecedented lifting power, making possible all those old grand visions of massive toroidal space colonies (which couldn't be built any other way) and once in space an Orion ship can achieve 1/10th the speed of light within a month, and travel to the nearest star system in under 50 years.

It's the brute force solution, but it's old technology (1960s) we could easily build one if not for the partial test ban treaty, and it would make possible an immediate and expansive genesis of mankind to the stars.

>>2188125

Last time I checked NERVA was closed-loop, that is, the exhaust was not radioactive in any way.

>>2188125
>it'd be very dirty to launch from earth to orbit as the exhaust would be radioactive.
I'm actually a bit skeptical about how significant this is. Assuming that the actual fuel isn't being damaged and flaking off with the exhaust, how much radioactive material would their be? Some of the hydrogen would be converted to tritium, but would it be a significant amount? I also doubt there's enough time to produce large amounts of gaseous fission by products that could diffuse out of the solid fuel.

>>2188164
I forgot to mention, the rockets we use now already put all sorts of toxic crap into the atmosphere anyway.

Good luck with that. They just finished demolishing every building at the Nevada Test Site (including all of the engine hot cells) that were used for nuclear rocket engine development. It's going to cost somebody a serious chunk of change to rebuild all of that infrastructure.

bump

bump

what the fuck

>>2191691
it must be a joke

goat herding jokes?

D:

I read OP's link as
>images.spaceref.com/news/2010/SeXy_Propulsion.pdf

>iwasokwithit.jpg

Those are tears of JOY right OP?

OMG these guys are awesome!

>>2191691

its the actual translation

>>2191740
A more probable interpretation is oil and coal.

>black water shalt elevate thy children to the heavens

god was basically telling us how to reach exosphere.

well, shit.

<span class="math"> f(x) [/spoiler]

>>2191762
Too bad he didn't include details on refining the kerosene, or the principle of rocket propulsion. Oh well, I guess he can't be expected to do EVERYTHING himself.

>I guess he can't be expected to do EVERYTHING himself.

Thats very true, regardless if you were being sarcastic or not

>>2191691
just wow...