Subject:
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Re: Transit Time to Mars
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.geek
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Date:
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Thu, 16 Dec 1999 01:59:11 GMT
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Viewed:
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278 times
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> Solid fuel rockets are essentially big fireworks: ya light 'em and they
> burn until nothing is left. They are great bang for your buck, but they
> don't last long. And in your scenario, you still have to get the boosters
> up to the space station.
Actually, you can make them burn at almost any rate you want to. It is a
question of how much exposed area there is to burn at once. The SRB motors
have a * shaped hole in the middle of them right from top to bottom. This
produces a very large amout of thrust (2 million Lb's each, IIRC), but a burn
time of in the order of 60 sec. If you had a 80 ft long motor that was solid,
end burning, it would last much longer (at least, in a ideal world). How much
longer depends on your choice of fuel...are you using Iron and Oxygen? or
Aluminum Perclorate? Or TNT?
I have a nice book on the subject, Rocketry and Space Travel, which goes into
some detail about the early rocketry experiments.
(oh, I would argue with Larry about the easiest way -right now- to get a 1G
acceleration out of earth's atmosphere/fallout range...use a Nuclear rocket, a
la the USAF experiments...Not good in Atomosphere, but not a whit of difference
in space.)
James P
James Powell
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Message has 5 Replies:
 | | Re: Transit Time to Mars
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| James Powell <wx732@freenet.victoria.bc.ca> wrote in message news:FMt9In.55E@lugnet.com... (...) boosters (...) motors (...) burn (...) solid, (...) much (...) into (...) 1G (...) rocket, a (...) difference (...) Wow!..My first job was designing (...) (25 years ago, 16-Dec-99, to lugnet.off-topic.geek)
| | | Re: Transit Time to Mars
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| (...) How do those work? and how much fallout do they leave behind, hanging in space, waiting for the next vehicle to pass through? I mean, it's not like radiation shielding isn't difficult enough already.. Anyway, what was it again, Project Orion? (...) (25 years ago, 16-Dec-99, to lugnet.off-topic.geek)
| | | Re: Transit Time to Mars
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| On Thu, 16 Dec 1999 01:59:11 GMT, James Powell uttered the following profundities... (...) Weren't these banned under one of the START treaties? I seem to recall some treaty of some description banning most types of Nuclear rockets. It could, (...) (25 years ago, 30-Dec-99, to lugnet.off-topic.geek)
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