News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Startup company says it is one step closer to creating nuclear fusion. Parent comment

Re:Startup company says it is one step closer to creating nu... by ben_w on Tuesday October 03, 2017 @09:42AM (#15392322)
In the absence of a working fusion reactor, everything is necessarily speculative. That said, going from chemical to nuclear propulsion is estimated to reduce round-trip times from ~600 days (you have to wait at Mars for the orbits to realign), to 30 days.

This is roughly the difference between an 1881 steamliner from London to Syndey, and a 747.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Startup company says it is one step closer to creating nu... by bmcusick on Tuesday October 03, 2017 @04:14PM (#15395742)
NASA is working on it, but until there's a working engine available for private rockets it seems premature.

https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/news/releases/201...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Startup company says it is one step closer to creating nu... by ben_w on Thursday October 05, 2017 @05:46AM (#15407849)
Ordinarily I would agree. However, this is Musk, and both SpaceX and Tesla have made progress beyond what most commentors have thought reasonable when the first press releases went out.

I’d guess a 10%-30% chance SpaceX is already Skunkworks-ing some form of atomic rocket, either fusion or fission.

Edit: and yes, that estimate is despite the public comments.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Startup company says it is one step closer to creating nu... by bmcusick on Thursday October 05, 2017 @12:49PM (#15410620)
Well you and I are just speculating, so who knows. But I sort of doubt it. People would have noticed if SpaceX was hiring nuclear engineers. I think they have enough R&D on their plate getting to full reusability.
[ Parent | on HN ]