There was a proposed rocket that would have been powered by dueterium and Helium-3 pellets injected into a nozzle at a rate of 250 per second and detonated by an electon beam. This rocket was expected to reach 1/8th the speed of light.
Name the rocket and proposed mission.
Never heard of this rocket. It would have had to fuel up on the Moon because that is the only place nearby that has large deposits of He-3. That stuff is very scarce on earth and can go for about $6,000/ gram.
Would that have been Project Daedalus?
It was a project in the 70's by the British Interplanetary society and I believe their initial goal was to target Barnard's Star about 6 light years from here because evidence of the time indicated the possibility of a planet in orbit.
Quote from: Austria on Mar 02, 2007, 05:16
Would that have been Project Daedalus?
It was a project in the 70's by the British Interplanetary society and I believe their initial goal was to target Barnard's Star about 6 light years from here because evidence of the time indicated the possibility of a planet in orbit.
That's it. :) http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=655#more-655
What about Project Orion in the 60's?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_%28nuclear_propulsion%29 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_%28nuclear_propulsion%29)