Space Elevator

"Tim Ward" wrote in message
...

"Ron Wanttaja" wrote in message
...
Space Elevators are obvious, but how does a Space Trim Tab work? :-)

Ron Wanttaja

I dunno, but this seems as good a time as any to bring up a stupid,
complicated idea of mine for access to space.

First, you should be familiar with the Kelly Aerospace idea of towing the
spaceship to altitude. If not, Google for "Eclipse project", NASA, and
perhaps F106.

Snip

Why not resurrect project Orion and ride the wake of nuclear blasts into
space.

Tony

"Anthony" wrote in message
...

"Tim Ward" wrote in message
...

"Ron Wanttaja" wrote in message
...
Space Elevators are obvious, but how does a Space Trim Tab work? :-)

Ron Wanttaja

I dunno, but this seems as good a time as any to bring up a stupid,
complicated idea of mine for access to space.

First, you should be familiar with the Kelly Aerospace idea of towing
the
spaceship to altitude. If not, Google for "Eclipse project", NASA, and
perhaps F106.

Snip

Why not resurrect project Orion and ride the wake of nuclear blasts into
space.

Tony

Cost?
Even if the hardware was free, the infrastructure to support a surface
launch would be awfully expensive. I know Niven & Pournelle had something
like that in Lucifer's Hammer, but that was an effort to throw off alien
conquerors.

I thought Orion was space-to-space transportation.

The system I've proposed wouldn't be cheap, but it could conceivably take
off and land from a regular airport.

Tim Ward

"Tim Ward" wrote in message
...

I know Niven & Pournelle had something
like that in Lucifer's Hammer, but that was an effort to throw off
alien
conquerors.

The book was "Footfall", not "Lucifer's Hammer". In the fictional
account, the city of Bellingham WA was scragged by the Orion-engined
takeoff.

BTW, "Orion spacevehicle" and "aviation.homebuilt" are not a close
match. ;-)

On Sun, 27 Jun 2004 01:32:51 GMT, "Felger Carbon"
wrote:

"Tim Ward" wrote in message
...

I know Niven & Pournelle had something
like that in Lucifer's Hammer, but that was an effort to throw off
alien
conquerors.

The book was "Footfall", not "Lucifer's Hammer". In the fictional
account, the city of Bellingham WA was scragged by the Orion-engined
takeoff.

Jerry later said that, had he known what the future would bring, they
would have chosen Redmond. :-)


BTW, "Orion spacevehicle" and "aviation.homebuilt" are not a close
match. ;-)



I've seen video of a proof of concept vehicle. Esentially a large
hemispherical plate of steel, maybe 200 kilos. They had some sort of
device to load the explosives into the fireing chamber. They used
half sticks of dynamite and lofted it to over 1000 feet. Really quite
impressive, although I think RUN would be the order of the day when it
quit being a flying machine and turned into a heavy slab of metal.
--
dillon

When I was a kid, I thought the angel's name was Hark
and the horse's name was Bob.

"Tim Ward" wrote in message
...

Why not resurrect project Orion and ride the wake of nuclear blasts into
space.

Tony

Cost?
Even if the hardware was free, the infrastructure to support a surface
launch would be awfully expensive. I know Niven & Pournelle had something
like that in Lucifer's Hammer, but that was an effort to throw off alien
conquerors.

I thought Orion was space-to-space transportation.

The system I've proposed wouldn't be cheap, but it could conceivably take
off and land from a regular airport.

Tim Ward

You really need to see the history channel show on Project Orion. I can't
do it justice here. The team on the project expected to be to Mars buy 1965
if their funding hadn't been dropped.

Tony

On Sun, 27 Jun 2004 05:38:59 +0000, Anthony wrote:


"Tim Ward" wrote in message
...

Why not resurrect project Orion and ride the wake of nuclear blasts into
space.

Tony

Cost?
Even if the hardware was free, the infrastructure to support a surface
launch would be awfully expensive. I know Niven & Pournelle had something
like that in Lucifer's Hammer, but that was an effort to throw off alien
conquerors.

I thought Orion was space-to-space transportation.

The system I've proposed wouldn't be cheap, but it could conceivably take
off and land from a regular airport.

Tim Ward

You really need to see the history channel show on Project Orion. I can't
do it justice here. The team on the project expected to be to Mars buy 1965
if their funding hadn't been dropped.

There's a good book on it by Dyson too.

AC