3 ms·
> the reactor can just be jettisoned before re-entering Earth‘s gravity well I think if there’s one thing to be learned from previous missions, it’s that nothi
by manmal 9y ago
> the reactor can just be jettisoned before re-entering Earth‘s gravity well
I think if there’s one thing to be learned from previous missions, it’s that nothing will „just work“. If the ejection mechanism is damaged, or the spacecraft is hit by some object and rendered useless shortly before ejection, then the radioactive payload will make it to Earth. I think a roundtrip would be dangerous, and the core should be left at Mars.
- jlebrech 9y agothings are more and more likely to work now we can simulate things with computers first.
- black_puppydog 9y agoin that case you could still divert the vehicle itself, assuming it's unmanned. My point is: yes, leaving it on mars is a pretty safe solution, but it's not the only one.
- red75prime 9y agoThe political fallout will probably be more dangerous than adding another kilowatt-class nuclear reactor to decaying megawatt-class ones on sunken submarines.
- ahoka 9y agoThis actually happened in the past. A Russian radar satellite failed to eject its nuclear reactor to a safe parking orbit and fell in Canada instead. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosmos_954 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosmos_954
- mholmes680 9y agoNever heard about this before, thanks for above link. Good link on Kosmos 954 recovery operation here: http://nationalinterest.org/feature/operation-morning-light-the-nuclear-satellite-almost-14411 http://nationalinterest.org/feature/operation-morning-light-...
- mrfusion 9y agoTriple redundancy usually works really well. Fail safes are great too.
- lordelph 9y ago"Hal, perform the earth orbit insertion burn" "I'm sorry Dave, I can't let you do that" "Hal, come on, not this shit again?" "Dave, the reactor core cannot be ejected, and cannot be allowed to enter orbit" "Hal, WTF?" "Crew ejection will occur in 3, 2, 1...Goodbye Dave"