Re: Handling Antimatter

Article View: sci.space

Article #6934

#6934

From: Hugh Emberson
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1993 05:23

21 lines
1495 bytes

>>>>> On Sat, 23 Jan 1993 16:30:01 EST, Graydon <SAUNDRSG@QUCDN.QueensU.CA> said:

G> Neither antimatter nor nuke-thermal are very good for launching
G> to orbit(not if we expect to use that part of the planet again),

Why?  I'm no expert, but I think there would be little or no
radiation release from a Nerva-style nuclear thermal rocket.  And the
release from a Nerva-style antimatter fueled rocket would depend on
how well you can stop gamma rays.

The only mechanism I can see for release in the nuclear thermal case
would be parts of the engine getting irradiated and then eroded away
by the propellant stream.  

Nervas were tested, does anyone have any figures for the amount of
radiation (or radioactive materials) released into the environment?

Hugh
--
Hugh Emberson -- CS Postgrad
hugh@cosc.canterbury.ac.nz

Technical Details

Message-ID: <HUGH.93Jan24172344@huia.cosc.canterbury.ac.nz>

Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!decwrl!waikato.ac.nz!canterbury.ac.nz!cantua!hugh

References:

<C0z6yA.10G.1@cs.cmu.edu><1jfpseINNfuv@gap.caltech.edu><1jh3umINN276@bigboote.WPI.EDU><93023.163001SAUNDRSG@QUCDN.QueensU.CA>

Show Full Headers

Complete Article Headers

Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!decwrl!waikato.ac.nz!canterbury.ac.nz!cantua!hugh
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Re: Handling Antimatter
Message-ID: <HUGH.93Jan24172344@huia.cosc.canterbury.ac.nz>
From: hugh@huia.cosc.canterbury.ac.nz (Hugh Emberson)
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1993 05:23:44 GMT
References: <C0z6yA.10G.1@cs.cmu.edu><1jfpseINNfuv@gap.caltech.edu><1jh3umINN276@bigboote.WPI.EDU><93023.163001SAUNDRSG@QUCDN.QueensU.CA>
Distribution: sci
Organization: Computer Science Dept., University of Canterbury, New Zealand
In-Reply-To: Graydon's message of Sat, 23 Jan 1993 16:30:01 EST
Nntp-Posting-Host: huia.canterbury.ac.nz
Lines: 21

Reply to Parent Message