New Nuclear-powered Spaceship Design Revealed

Iddo Genuth writes "A U.S. based company introduced an innovative propulsion system that could significantly shorten round trips from Earth to Mars (from two years to only six months) and enable future spaceships to reach Jupiter after one year of space traveling. The system, which may dramatically affect interplanetary space travel is called the Miniature Magnetic Orion (Mini-Mag Orion for short), and is an optimization of the 1958 Orion interplanetary propulsion concept."

Didn't we

[scoot80]

recently have an article about trip to mars in a week? So.. this is really.. an inferior mode of transport for all those Mars holidayers...

hopefully

[weirdcrashingnoises]

Hopefully this spaceship will be able to slow down before it reaches mars.

Unlike some spaceships... http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/13/2328233 [slashdot.org]

What about the surging nature of the propuslion?

[Kaenneth]

An WHUMP Orion WHUMP based WHUMP drive WHUMP can WHUMP be a WHUMP bit WHUMP rough, WHUMP any WHUMP study WHUMP on the WHUMP effects WHUMP on cargo/passWHUMPengers?

Oh dear...

[Roger W Moore]

...I think someone forgot to tell the sun.

Like stepping on the gas to get to Wyoming...

[patio11]

... this just means you get to nowhere faster.

(Sorry, reflexive poke at Wyoming. Wyoming has wonderful people, natural resources, and breathable atmosphere. Mars is 0 for 3. Jupiter doesn't even have a surface to land on, but now we can hurry up to get there and not land on it! Like the robot we're sending had some place it would rather be for the marginal time...)

Pics

[StikyPad]

Here's a few pics of the Mini-Mag [maglite.com] in action. Looks vaguely familiar... Interesting how the cargo capsule seems to release from one end and dock at the other. Very intriguing.

The best part of the mini-mag design

[Anonymous Coward]

If you unscrew the cap in the stern of the spacecraft, you will find a spare nuclear reactor behind the battery terminal.

Also Homer Simpson is the Safety Inspector for the

[Joe The Dragon]

Also Homer Simpson is the Safety Inspector for the nuclear parts of the project. He was picked for his Astronaut for NASA and nuclear technician / nuclear Safety job experience.

Slashdotted?

[barakn]

These people are visionaries, except when it comes to anticipating large server loads.

Re:Slashdotted?

[Tablizer]

These people are visionaries, except when it comes to anticipating large server loads.

Indeed. The ship will reach Jupiter before the damned bytes get to me from their server. Discrimination! Guess I'll go off my diet to compete with Jupiter.
   

Transfer orbit

[Kadin2048]

I believe they are using the "Journalist Transfer Orbit." This is a highly specialized piece of orbital mechanics: basically, you take the average distance to the destination as given by Wikipedia and divide by the spacecraft's top speed.

Re:What about manned?

[Tablizer]

1. How will people deal with the psychological effect of the never-ending pounding brought by this type of propulsion?

Explains...why...Kirk...talked...like...this. The...future...is...here.
       

Re:jupiter?

[moosesocks]

Obligatory:

Fry: Hey, as long as you don't make me smell Uranus. (laughs)
Leela: I don't get it.
Professor: I'm sorry, Fry, but astronomers renamed Uranus in 2620 to end that stupid joke once and for all.
Fry: Oh. What's it called now?
Professor: Urectum.

Re:What about manned?

[fyoder]

I think many of your concerns would be addressed by the addition of an inertial compensator [wikipedia.org]. As the wikipedia article points out, this may not fully protect against sudden shocks. It also seems less effective on people suffering from HPD (hamminess personality disorder), who may be thrown about much more violently than people less drama prone.

Re:hopefully

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, that would be a good idea. [galactanet.com]

Reminds me of...

[madbawa]

...Calculus!! I think it was Destination Moon or Explorers on the Moon (Adventures of Tintin). He had a nuclear powered rocket then. Bah!

Re:What about manned?

[PitaBred]

It's now more popular to be a nerd, rather than just a state of being for people who are truly drawn to it, so you start getting a lot of wannabe's who can't hack it intellectually, but are still drawn to the "lifestyle", or more the perks of being known as a nerd. For example, look at Apple users ;)

Re:hopefully

[Propaganda13]

1) Start your trip from Earth Orbit, by firing up them engines and transferring into a nice trajectory to our friendly-neighborhood planet Mars.
2) ???
3) Profit!... no, I mean, half-way through the journey (or actually, just a little bit before half way, to give some leeway for properly transferring into a Mars orbital path), switch off them engines!
4) Swing your craft around so that the pointy-end is towards the trajectory's rear and the business end (the engines) are pointing towards the trajectory's forward path.
5) Fire up them engines again! Hey presto! You're now flying into nuclear explosions!
6) ???

fixed

Re:What about manned?

[NeMon'ess]

If he owns a DeLorean he's my new best friend.

Re:The solar system is big enough for the moment.

[Anonymous Coward]

"a small planetoid outfitted with propulsion systems"

Am I the only one who thinks we should paint this thing with flowers and peace symbols like a 1960's volkswagen camper van?

Re:The solar system is big enough for the moment.

[JWW]

"a small planetoid outfitted with propulsion systems"

Am I the only one who thinks we should paint this thing with flowers and peace symbols like a 1960's volkswagen camper van?

Yeah, because the first thing that popped into my mind was a moon looking thing with a planet destroying laser ;-)

Re:hopefully

[Minwee]

6) Go back to school. Go directly to school. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200.
7) Learn about strange new concepts like Galilean Relativity, Newton's Laws of Motion and Inertial Frames of Reference.
7a) And no, I'm not going to link you to Wikipedia's articles on those. You're going to have to go with step six for that.
8) Now that you understand why step five is no different from step one, you can figure out what step six was supposed to be.
9) For extra credit, write "I will not talk out of my ass about Physics" 6x10^24 times on the chalkboard.