nuclear pulse rocket
DESCRIPTION
The nuclear pulse units are more like nuclear hand grenades than strategic weapons. The pulse units release tens to hundreds of tons of TNT equivalent instead of millions of tons of TNT equivalent. The size of these systems are on the scale of aspirin tablets whereas the scale of bombs are the size of suitcases to steamer trunks. This makes the pulse units controllable.In later designs these tiny bomblets were fission free possessing no uranium plutonium or thorium. A fission free nuclear device uses Lithium-6 and Deuterium with a source of neutrons to release a lot of energy very quickly. The neutron multiplier of choice is primarily tungsten which produces two low energy neutrons for every high energy neutron it absorbs. The initial neutron flux for a fission free device starts the reaction the same way a torch lights a candle. For a nuclear pulse rocket, this is created by a highly focused neutron beam built into the engine.The Mobetron system is a medical neutron beam that consists of a lightweight linear accelerator based on X-band technology,mounted on a motor-driven C-arm gantry. This is used to irradiate a surgically exposed tumour to a very high flux of neutrons, the gantry can be rotated ±45◦ downward in a transverse plane, tilted ±30◦ in the radial plane and translated in a horizontal plane ±5 cm.This medical neutron beam source, the Mobetron is a prototype of the type of neutron source used for fission free nuclear pulse rocketry. The Mobetron makes use of a linear accelerator head that can be moved up and down ±30 cm from its original position. It can be operated at four different energies, 4, 6, 9 and 12 MeV. The primary process for neutron production by an electron beam is the absorption of the bremsstrahlung photons produced by the electrons (McGinley and Landy 1989). In order for a neutron to be produced, the absorbed photon must have energy greater than the binding energy of the neutron to the nucleus. Neutron production will take place in any material struck by an electron or bremsstrahlung beam above a threshold energy (Eth) which varies in generalfrom 10 to 19 MeV for light nuclei (A The dominant reaction is (γ , n) with smaller quantities of neutrons produced by (γ , pn) and (γ , 2n) at higher energies. The direct production of neutrons by electrons (via virtual photons) is at least two orders of magnitude smaller than neutron production by photons. For photon energies lying in the range of threshold energy to about 30 MeV, neutron production occurs primarily through the giant resonance process, i.e., the electric field of the photon transfersits energy to the nucleus by inducing an oscillation in which the protons as a group move in opposite direction to the neutrons as a group. Since the high-Z materials such as lead and tungsten have lower thresholds, neutron production is higher and occurs with lower photon energies than for materials with medium-Z such as copper and steel.The pulse unitTen grams of Lithium-6 Deuteride in a 28.7 mm diameter sphere surrounding by a 1 mm thick tungsten sphere massing 52 grams. When detonated this releases 2.65 trillion joules of energy. The resulting plasma pulse travels at 9,237 km/sec. This is the characteristic exhaust velocity.An array of MEMS based solid chemical rockets, built into each tungsten shell, along with Wii type solid state accelerometers, and X-box like tracking systems built into the engine, propel a 62 gram device to a detonation point at the focus of a paraboloid of revolution. Unlike chemical reactions which require the combustion gases to be squeezed to accelerate them to supersonic speed, and then expanded to accelerate them further, (DeLaval nozzle) nuclear reasons are so energetic, all plasma particles travel in essentially light-like straight lines. TheTRANSCRIPT
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01 Sky deck
02 Command deck
03 Command Support
04 Captains Quarters
05 Officers Lounge
06 Officers Quarters
07 Owners Suite
09 Guest Cabin 1 & 2
11 Guest Cabin 3 & 4
12 Guest Cabin 5 & 6
08 Owners Suite
10 Guest Lounge
13 Exercise Room
14 Life Support
15 Crews Quarters
16/20 Docking Areas
21 Main Dining Meeting
22 Stores
23 Stores
24 Stores
28 Engineering 1
29 Engineering 2
27 Space Suit Airlock
25 Crews Quarters
26 Crew Lounge
30 Life Support
31 Power & Communications
32 Supplies
33 Cargo 1
34 Cargo 2
35 Cargo 3
36 Cargo 4
37 Cargo 5
38 Cargo 6
39 Cargo 7
40 Equipment
41 Hoist
42 Access
Nuclear Pulse Rockets Nuclear Pulse Rockets
Nuclear Pulse Rocket
8,000 tonne force thrust3,000 tonne take off weight 720 tonne inert mass