5 ms·

I tried looking specifically for details on biological shielding. How do you prevent the crew from getting fried?

• simonh 7y ago
  Atomic Rockets is mostly focused on propulsion rather than other aspects of vehicle design. Aside from shielding, one way is physical separation of the drive system and habitation sections. You can see this in the design of the Discovery in the film 2001 A Space Odyssey.
  • DuskStar 7y ago
    > Atomic Rockets is mostly focused on propulsion rather than other aspects of vehicle design. Are you sure about that? I remember reading some really interesting stuff about effective limits of laser range there, and the sections list shows ~5x as many non-engine pages as ones dedicated to propulsion.
• Symmetry 7y ago
  The topic of shielding is covered in the radiation chapter (which included something I wrote as an excerpt! My most internet famous moment!) http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/radiation.php http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/radiation.php And all the nuclear ships in the realistic designs section have shields. http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/realdesigns.php http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/realdesigns.php
• gnode 7y ago
  They talk about using a wedge-like shield. A small angle can be shielded with a long wedge structure, the large surface area of which allows it to radiate the produced heat. The spacecraft body is then placed some distance away, to fit within the expanding conical envelope of the shield. Additionally, the space in between can contain a large radiator. By circulating coolant through the shield its mass could be reduced, as it would not need to radiate its own heat.