New rocket engine concept stuck – help out

Re:New rocket engine concept stuck – help out by AnimalMuppet on Tuesday August 18, 2020 @07:47PM (#24205678)

Exploding fuel pallets. Here's one ton of fuel, a one-ton inert reaction mass, and an explosive charge that will fire at the right time to separate the two. It drives the fuel mass to nearly the velocity of the rocket ship (this also makes catching it easier). It preserves momentum by driving the reaction mass in the opposite direction.

Hint: Make sure the reaction mass misses the rocket ship.

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Re:New rocket engine concept stuck – help out by urb on Tuesday August 18, 2020 @07:52PM (#24205698)

Ok good! But how do you contain the blast without harming the ship or sending it off course?

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Re:New rocket engine concept stuck – help out by AnimalMuppet on Tuesday August 18, 2020 @09:25PM (#24206255)

Well, if you can manage it, the blast can be mostly linear.

I picture it like this: There's, say, a one degree angle between the trajectory of the ship and the trajectory of the fuel pallet. The explosion can happen arbitrarily far before their courses intersect. This means that the blast can be (arbitrarily far) * (sin 1 degree) away from the course of the rocket.

But that [Edit: the fuel pallet] transfers a small amount of sideways momentum to the rocket. To counter that, alternate fuel pallets from the left and the right.

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