Orion Drives
Moderator: Alyrium Denryle
Orion Drives
Could they actually work in space? If there's no blast wave from superheated air, how would the ship be propelled forward?
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The Duchess of Zeon
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Re: Orion Drives
EDIT: Actually, forgive me; Orion is a touchy subject, as I am an advocate, and there's just so much ignorance out there about it - But there are several different variations. Anyway:kojikun wrote:Could they actually work in space? If there's no blast wave from superheated air, how would the ship be propelled forward?
They weren't going to use the blast wave from the superheated air, not even in the atmosphere - too imprecise in effects! A plate was fired out directly behind the nuclear device at a preprogrammed distance, at least that was the plan. It got vapourized by the nuke and that was the material that would impact the pusher plate.
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In 1966 the Soviets find something on the dark side of the Moon. In 2104 they come back. -- Red Banner / White Star, a nBSG continuation story. Updated to Chapter 4.0 -- 14 January 2013.
In 1966 the Soviets find something on the dark side of the Moon. In 2104 they come back. -- Red Banner / White Star, a nBSG continuation story. Updated to Chapter 4.0 -- 14 January 2013.
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SyntaxVorlon
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Nuclear fission is the breaking of nuclear bonds in dense atoms and creating from that a great deal of energy, this energy can be used such that it propels a craft. Personnally I think a fusion engine is better though, pure power. An omnivore rocket could push you across the solar system, just as fast as an orion, given time for acceleration. Orions get one chance at acceleration and it takes quite a while to actually get the thing set up once again, assuming that the gamma radiation from the first explosion doesn't remain in the hull and activate the next bomb too soon.
Re: Orion Drives
The Duchess of Zeon wrote:EDIT: Actually, forgive me; Orion is a touchy subject, as I am an advocate, and there's just so much ignorance out there about it - But there are several different variations. Anyway:kojikun wrote:Could they actually work in space? If there's no blast wave from superheated air, how would the ship be propelled forward?
They weren't going to use the blast wave from the superheated air, not even in the atmosphere - too imprecise in effects! A plate was fired out directly behind the nuclear device at a preprogrammed distance, at least that was the plan. It got vapourized by the nuke and that was the material that would impact the pusher plate.
Wouldn't a NERVA type fission rocket be just as effective as the Orion type engine. The ware and tear on a Nerva would be less that an Orion engine. IMHO.
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But as far as board culture in general, I do think that young male overaggression is a contributing factor to the general atmosphere of hostility. It's not SOS and the Mess throwing hand grenades all over the forum- Red
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Duchess, how big were the proposed plates? I imagine they'd need to be rather large, no? And made of a suitable material. Did they actually manage to design a functional orion drive? Last i saw, they stopped during early testing of smaller explosive based drives.
Duchess, how big were the proposed plates? I imagine they'd need to be rather large, no? And made of a suitable material. Did they actually manage to design a functional orion drive? Last i saw, they stopped during early testing of smaller explosive based drives.
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True, it would accelerate faster but the viability of the system is in doubt. Really if they can get the thing working I would love it. Anything in space is better than nothing. But the Nerva or the M2P2 would be better systems for exploring the Sol system. Even the MCF or ICF would probably work out better than the Orion engine.kojikun wrote:A nerva is indeed probably the better of the two, for wear and tear, but the orion drive is FAST. Youre literally riding a nuclear blastwave.
They say, "the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots." I suppose it never occurred to them that they are the tyrants, not the patriots. Those weapons are not being used to fight some kind of tyranny; they are bringing them to an event where people are getting together to talk. -Mike Wong
But as far as board culture in general, I do think that young male overaggression is a contributing factor to the general atmosphere of hostility. It's not SOS and the Mess throwing hand grenades all over the forum- Red
But as far as board culture in general, I do think that young male overaggression is a contributing factor to the general atmosphere of hostility. It's not SOS and the Mess throwing hand grenades all over the forum- Red
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The Duchess of Zeon
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It depends on the system. There's a series of Orion proposals that have evolved since the original one got shelved (Lots of enthusiasts have worked on proposals for improving Orion since then).kojikun wrote:syntax be quiet.
Duchess, how big were the proposed plates? I imagine they'd need to be rather large, no? And made of a suitable material. Did they actually manage to design a functional orion drive? Last i saw, they stopped during early testing of smaller explosive based drives.
There's also another drive system which uses an Orion-like system but against a solar sail, for example... Hrmm. The Wikipedia article is actually very detailed:
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_project
And here's another article, including the details on the original project:
http://www.islandone.org/Propulsion/ProjectOrion.html
The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth. -- Wikipedia's No Original Research policy page.
In 1966 the Soviets find something on the dark side of the Moon. In 2104 they come back. -- Red Banner / White Star, a nBSG continuation story. Updated to Chapter 4.0 -- 14 January 2013.
In 1966 the Soviets find something on the dark side of the Moon. In 2104 they come back. -- Red Banner / White Star, a nBSG continuation story. Updated to Chapter 4.0 -- 14 January 2013.
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Enlightenment
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Re: Orion Drives
NERVA 2 Isp = 925 s.Knife wrote:Wouldn't a NERVA type fission rocket be just as effective as the Orion type engine.
Orion Isp = ~10,000-1e6 s. (theoretical)
As you can see, Orion drives are far more efficient.
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