Aerogel Core Fission Fragment Rocket Engine

Re:Aerogel Core Fission Fragment Rocket Engine by brucethemoose2 on Friday November 03, 2023 @07:37PM (#38136457)

For those wondering, SGL is "solar gravitational lens," a point about 542AU from the Sun (75 hours away at the speed of light) where one could park a relatively simple telescope to observe exoplants using the sun as a lens.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_gravitational_lens

Its quite brilliant... if you can get a detector out there and maneuver it. Especially if you can slow it down once it gets there.

Fission fragment rockets are also an old idea, and a good one: https://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/enginelist2.ph...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Aerogel Core Fission Fragment Rocket Engine by Valgrim on Friday November 03, 2023 @09:08PM (#38137046)

Last I heard of it you dont need to slow it down, the concept starts working at SGL distance, but it works fine beyond that. In any case at that distance you need a chain of communication relays which themselves can carry telescopes pointing at the sun.

[ Parent | on HN ]