The Briefing Room
General Category => Science, Technology and Knowledge => Topic started by: rangerrebew on January 13, 2019, 05:42:05 pm
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Steam-propelled spacecraft prototype can theoretically explore celestial objects "forever"
January 11, 2019 by Zenaida Gonzalez Kotala, University of Central Florida
Using steam to propel a spacecraft from asteroid to asteroid is now possible, thanks to a collaboration between a private space company and the University of Central Florida.
UCF planetary research scientist Phil Metzger worked with Honeybee Robotics of Pasadena, California, which developed the World Is Not Enough spacecraft prototype that extracts water from asteroids or other planetary bodies to generate steam and propel itself to its next mining target.
UCF provided the simulated asteroid material and Metzger did the computer modeling and simulation necessary before Honeybee created the prototype and tried out the idea in its facility Dec. 31. The team also partnered with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, to develop initial prototypes of steam-based rocket thrusters.
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2019-01-steam-propelled-spacecraft-prototype-theoretically-explore.html#jCp
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John Hartford beat 'em to it:
Sorry... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AV7ZTwqC8ZI&frags=pl%2Cwn#)
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You need a nuke reactor for this kind of rocket. So far we do not have one. The 1960's era NERVA would have required a Saturn 5 to get it into LEO, but it had a problem that after it had been fired up, there was only one way to approach the habitat module without getting a fatal radiation dose. We probably will need at least 20 years to get back to that stage. Most of the guys who worked on it are dead now.