- #71
chayced
- 157
- 0
CGNRs are a good way to go, but what about a Nuclear jet engine powered lander?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_Nuclear_Propulsion
Any planet that has an atmosphere would work, and it could be used for the flight back. Of course you would need additional propulsion to get into orbit, but that would only take effect after you were effectively out of atmosphere and at a high velocity.
I still don't see the comparison to the Apollo missions. We could spend $500 billion on it, or we could just use a pencil in most cases. Sure technology would have to be created for this, but the amount of technology is trivial compared to what they went through to get on the moon and much of the technology we need could be converted from things that are now "off the shelf". It's not like we need to create a new kind of computer small enough to carry on board or we need to find a way to make a zero gravity toilet.
Columbia/Challanger were both great losses. Sometimes an industry needs a loss to get it's priorities straight. I just hope NASA has them there now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_Nuclear_Propulsion
Any planet that has an atmosphere would work, and it could be used for the flight back. Of course you would need additional propulsion to get into orbit, but that would only take effect after you were effectively out of atmosphere and at a high velocity.
I still don't see the comparison to the Apollo missions. We could spend $500 billion on it, or we could just use a pencil in most cases. Sure technology would have to be created for this, but the amount of technology is trivial compared to what they went through to get on the moon and much of the technology we need could be converted from things that are now "off the shelf". It's not like we need to create a new kind of computer small enough to carry on board or we need to find a way to make a zero gravity toilet.
Columbia/Challanger were both great losses. Sometimes an industry needs a loss to get it's priorities straight. I just hope NASA has them there now.