
Space travel: Looking to build spaceship within 100 years - antr
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-100-year-starship-20110806,0,1784371.story
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VladRussian
proton-boron fusion producing high speed (~ 0.03c) alpha particles reflected
by magnetic field

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusion_power#p-11B_fuel_cycle>

It will let us to comfortably get to the solar system planets and to launch
first multi-decade travel to the nearest star.

(Google for Bussard)

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curt
Don't know why more research hasn't been done on Boron fusion. Since it gives
off an electron you don't need any turbines or heavy equipment just a
transformer. Instead we spend billions on H2 H3 fusion. Makes no sense to me.

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mattheww
It's unclear whether it's possible to reach a breakeven point.

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jackpirate
That's true for any controlled fusion reaction.

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VladRussian
the lowest upper bound we have is 5-10Kt thermonuclear bomb. I.e. we do know
that using at least one type of confinement - inertial - with X rays as driver
it is possible to get energy-net-positive on the scale of such a small bomb.
On the other side, ie. the lower bound - the Z machine at Sandia is generating
X rays with power enough to drive the reaction similar to how the fusion is
driven by X rays in the H bomb, just on the much smaller scale, and we do know
that scaling it up or the other existing designs, like the tokamak or polywell
or laser driven device like NIF, does increase the reaction efficiency.
Somewhere between is the practical energy-net-positive reactor. It can be
order or 2 of magnitude bigger than ITER - well, the modern coal burning or
nuclear plant is several orders of magnitudes bigger than the campfire of the
cavemen where it started from.

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dfischer
This is a dream coming true. I wish I could be part of the team in that space
ship. I'd do anything to actually be a part of space travel. That's all I want
in my life.

~~~
sliverstorm
SpaceX is growing, and they aren't the only ones. Space travel is going to
happen.

 _I'd do anything to actually be a part of space travel. That's all I want in
my life._

If you really mean it, then make it happen.

~~~
dfischer
Yeah, I was at SpaceX in L.A the other month touring the manufacturing floor.
It was amazing.

I _really_ mean it. The only reason I work hard right now is to attempt to
make enough money to even be involved with the process of making my dreams
come true in space ($$$).

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Retric
I don't know about propulsion ect, but IMO the best approach without magic
levels of technology or antimatter is going to look something like:

2 stage craft, first stage uses solar sail to shift into a highly parabolic
orbit that goes from close to the sun into the and back out to the ort cloud.
Passengers meet up with craft as it's heading toward the sun on final passage.
And ignite rocket near sun for maximum gravity assist on it's final flight
through the solar system.

PS: Probes get's to skip the docking part of the trip.

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thirdhaf
Could you explain the gravity assist portion a bit more please? A gravity
slingshot only works when you transition from a regime dominated by one body
(sun for example) to a regime dominated by another body moving relative to it
(Jupiter for many outbound probes).

I guess you could use a scheme similar to Cassini where you're doing multiple
gravity assist swings off anything at all to get every last erg of thrust but
my gut feeling is that you're not gaining much relative to the delta v needed
for your complete voyage.

It would make for a fun app though. Design your own Interstellar Mission!

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Nick_C
> It would make for a fun app though

Like this one? <http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/>

Orbiter is a space sim with accurate orbital mechanics (including the Oberth
effect ;).

It's a lot of fun. You can use realistic current vehicles for accuracy, or
unrealistic ones with huge power-to-weight for fun.

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flatline
The funding has long been moving away from space exploration and more towards
information technology, robotics, and medical/biological research. The picture
in my mind of interstellar travel in a century looks much more like sending an
unmanned craft at high acceleration with frozen, fertilized embryos and
robotic caretakers, than attempting to shuffle soft pudgy mammals across the
galaxy.

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VladRussian
well, a little bit more of "technology, robotics, and medical/biological
research" and may be these mammals can be made a little less soft and pudgy :)
. Especially considering that any promising high specific impulse propulsion
systems are expected to have low trust (thus low acceleration for long period
of time)

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rbanffy
I seriously doubt a government sponsored project can remain coherent for 100
years.

~~~
kqr2
Actually, the British Royal Navy used oaks that had been planted some 200
years earlier specifically for the navy.

From <http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=11894> which talks about long term
thinking for interstellar flight:

    
    
      The British oak used in the ships that fought the 
      Napoleonic wars was planted during the reign of the 
      Stuarts some 200 years earlier and allocated for future 
      use in the Royal Navy. Knowing this, Collingwood went on 
      to encourage the planting of oaks that would be made 
      ready for future Royal Navy ships, oaks that matured long 
      after the heyday of sailing ships.

~~~
rbanffy
True, but once you plant an oak, there is little you have to do for it to
mature. With developing and building a starship, there is a lot to do.

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Joakal
It's possible if they work with this group:

<http://www.icarusinterstellar.org/>

[http://news.discovery.com/space/tau-zero-project-daedalus-
ic...](http://news.discovery.com/space/tau-zero-project-daedalus-
icarus-110119.html)

I think USA is going to do it alone.

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lurchpop
Neyland sounds like an enthusiastic and genuine guy, but you gotta be f*cking
kidding me with that $500k prize. Their budget is $3.2bn.

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Apocryphon
In these times, with all of the troubles on Earth, it may seem to be foolhardy
to focus on space, much less a hundred years into the future. But whether it's
escapist or actually preparing for the long-term, it's good to dream higher.

