🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1993Jan21.120247.11867@abo.fi>, MLINDROOS@FINABO.ABO.FI (Marcus Lindroos INF) writes:
> Any idea what kind of engines the "Discovery" and "Alexei Leonov" of "2010 -
> Odyssey Two" were using? 

Yup.  For the *Discovery* they are gaseous-core fission engines-- in
other words, a fission reactor running at a *really* high temperature,
20,000 degrees F (11,000 C).  (If I were a journalist, I probably
would have written 11093.33 degrees C...)  Liquid hydrogen flows past
this to serve as exhaust fluid and to help keep the graphite walls
cooled. Consult a book on advanced space propulsion for details.

Source: Frederick I. Ordway, III, "*2001: A Space Odyssey* in
Retrospect," p. 47-105 in the book *Science Fiction and Space Futures*
by Eugene M. Emme (AAS History Series, Volume 5), Univelt.  Fred was a
technical advisor on the film and this article is a great source of
behind-the-scenes information and pictures (fifty pages' worth!). 

I don't know of anyplace where the propulsion of the *Leonov* is
discussed, but it's reasonable to suppose they use gas-core engines
too.

I always thought this technology was a trifle advanced to be ready in
only 2001, but remember that Kubrick's people were busy little beavers
in the 34 years following 1967-- they had dug out underground hangars
on the Moon for their spacecraft, with elevators, had started regular
Pan Am service to orbit, had built half a space station (but Clarke
pointed out in the Fifties in *Islands in the Sky* that you would
finish building the wheel FIRST, and THEN spin it up!), and by 12
January 1992 had achieved artificial intelligence.

It is sad to think that *they* were supposed to be *us*. :-(

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