4 ms·
1% of the speed of light with nuclear reactors? I'm skeptical. It's 3000 km/s.
by Gravityloss 8y ago
1% of the speed of light with nuclear reactors? I'm skeptical. It's 3000 km/s.
- firmgently 8y agoVoyager 1 is already going about 17km/s. With no atmosphere or gravity to fight against you can keep accelerating as long as you have power.
- Gravityloss 8y agoNo, you need a propellant even if you use a nuclear energy source.
- raducu 8y agoProject Orion was supposes to reach ~10% of the speed of light by using fission bombs and could theoretically be built using 1950's technology. There are other proposed schemes to travel at ~light speeds - light sails, nuclear fragment rockets, but I'd bet on nuclear fusion in the not so distant future. Faster than light travel may be off the table, but I see no reason why nuclear energy alone could not get us "close" to the speed of light in the next centuries or so.
- Gravityloss 8y agoThanks, I didn't realize they were planning for so high delta vees. They were fusion bombs in the end.