4 ms·

Safely getting that much nuclear material into orbit is tricky. What if the launch rocket fails and explodes in the atmosphere?

by Zikes 11y ago

Grishnakh 11y ago
Ok, fine. We'll just stay on this planet and stop all space exploration because an accident may happen. Besides, I'm pretty sure this has been addressed many times before. It's not that hard to secure nuclear material; we've dropped nukes in accidents before and they didn't detonate because they were so well-built. Even if you intentionally dispersed some nuclear fuel at high altitude, the concentration would be so low it wouldn't make a difference. And what do you mean about "that much nuclear material" anyway? We safely launch tons of cargo all the time. How much nuclear material do you think it takes to power a rocket? Do you have any clue how little nuclear material is in a full-fledged bomb?
- milesskorpen 11y ago
  The nukes which were dropped were not attached to massive rocket engines that have a disturbing tendency of blowing up spectacularly >1% of the time.
  - mikeash 11y ago
    Yes, they were just wrapped in large amounts of high explosive. Which sometimes exploded. And don't forget about the hundreds of nuclear bombs deliberately exploded in the atmosphere last century.
- Zikes 11y ago
  "That much nuclear material" as in "enough to visit nearby star systems". Perhaps you've underestimated the literally astronomical distances involved, and how much power is required to get there in anything close to a reasonable time-frame. It would be required to accelerate at full speed for centuries, then turn around and decelerate for centuries more. It's easy to imagine that taking enough nuclear material to be able to cause a non-negligible nuclear disaster on a scale that meets or exceeds past nuclear disasters. Fukushima and Chernobyl weren't exactly trying to travel to another star system, after all. Then again I might be completely wrong, but seeing as it's literally rocket science, I think you can forgive my ignorance and I can forgive your condescending tone.

Safely getting that much nuclear material into orbit is tricky. What if the launch rocket fails and explodes in the atmosphere?

by Zikes 11y ago

Safely getting that much nuclear material into orbit is tricky. What if the launch rocket fails and explodes in the atmosphere?

Grishnakh 11y ago

Ok, fine. We'll just stay on this planet and stop all space exploration because an accident may happen. Besides, I'm pretty sure this has been addressed many times before. It's not that hard to secure nuclear material; we've dropped nukes in accidents before and they didn't detonate because they were so well-built. Even if you intentionally dispersed some nuclear fuel at high altitude, the concentration would be so low it wouldn't make a difference. And what do you mean about "that much nuclear material" anyway? We safely launch tons of cargo all the time. How much nuclear material do you think it takes to power a rocket? Do you have any clue how little nuclear material is in a full-fledged bomb?

milesskorpen 11y ago
The nukes which were dropped were not attached to massive rocket engines that have a disturbing tendency of blowing up spectacularly >1% of the time.
- mikeash 11y ago
  Yes, they were just wrapped in large amounts of high explosive. Which sometimes exploded. And don't forget about the hundreds of nuclear bombs deliberately exploded in the atmosphere last century.
Zikes 11y ago
"That much nuclear material" as in "enough to visit nearby star systems". Perhaps you've underestimated the literally astronomical distances involved, and how much power is required to get there in anything close to a reasonable time-frame. It would be required to accelerate at full speed for centuries, then turn around and decelerate for centuries more. It's easy to imagine that taking enough nuclear material to be able to cause a non-negligible nuclear disaster on a scale that meets or exceeds past nuclear disasters. Fukushima and Chernobyl weren't exactly trying to travel to another star system, after all. Then again I might be completely wrong, but seeing as it's literally rocket science, I think you can forgive my ignorance and I can forgive your condescending tone.