Do we even have the resources and ingenuity to accomplish that today? How do we transform enough nuclear energy into kinetic such that there's enough thrust to escape Earth's gravity? A lot of reaction mass would be needed.
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BlackZero30x created this a-'Maize'-ing signature! =)
We don't have nuclear-powered shuttles because their is no need for a nuclear-powered shuttle.
Generally, new things are built because we have a need for them.
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"The Daemon lied with every breath. It could not help itself but to deceive and dismay, to riddle and ruin. The more we conversed, the closer I drew to one singularly ineluctable fact: I would gain no wisdom here."
You can block alpha radiation with a sheet of paper.
__________________ Recently Produced and Distributed Young but High-Ranking Political Figure of Royal Ancestry within the Modern American Town Affectionately Referred To as Bel-Air.
Nuclear fission isn't the same as nuclear fusion. It's not about the radiation-- nuclear fusion tends to be kinda hot and explosive. It's why cold fusion would be the Holy Grail of energy.
__________________ Recently Produced and Distributed Young but High-Ranking Political Figure of Royal Ancestry within the Modern American Town Affectionately Referred To as Bel-Air.
Space shuttles have never been gas powered, if by gas you mean gasoline.
Rockets and shuttles in the past have been powered by liquid hydrogen.
As I recall, there was some interest in nuclear powered spacecraft during the Cold War, and I want to say that there has been at least one nuclear powered space probe. Realistically though, the only expedition that may be launched in the foreseeable future that might require nuclear power would be a manned mission to Mars.
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“Where the longleaf pines are whispering
to him who loved them so.
Where the faint murmurs now dwindling
echo o’er tide and shore."
-A Grave Epitaph in Santa Rosa County, Florida; I wish I could remember the man's name.
KMC Community Forums
Dec 17th, 2012 12:49 AM
