Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!think.com!spool.mu.edu!sdd.hp.com!wuarchive!csus.edu!ucdavis!ucbvax!cix.compulink.co.uk!printf From: printf@cix.compulink.co.uk (Ian Stirling) Newsgroups: sci.space Subject: nuclear ramjet Message-ID: Date: 6 Feb 91 00:28:00 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Lines: 23 |> Have any nuclear powered rocket engines ever been operated?(the type |> in which you pas a cold gas through a very hot reactor to get |> thrust)If not have any been designed past the pencil drawing on a a4 |> sheet stage and if so what sort of thrust could be developed. |> |Air & Space ran an article about a year or two back about project "Pluto", |which was a nuclear powered ram-jet. The idea was to create a supersonic |missile with an almost unlimited range. They did test a prototype, but |it never went into full scale testing. | |The Pluto missile had a few startling side effects. It left a trail of |radiation that severly contaminated its path. It also left any animal or |person in its path deaf. Finally, with unlimited range, it was possible |that one could get loose and not be stopped, eventually killing all life |on Earth. Sounds like fun... Would'nt this kind of engine be perfect for long term atmospheric probes in the Saturn/Jupiter atmosphere.It would also need little surplus weight in the form of radiation sheilds (on the long voyage from Earth to Saturn/Jupiter.). Is this possible or do the gas giants atmosphers/gravity feilds make this impossible,or is the weight of the engine too high.(How long term could this be (erosion of reactor core by atmosperic gases at high speed) Printf.