The hypothetical interstellar ramjet

The hypothetical Bussard Ramjet or interstellar ramjet is one of the many introductions to how to visit other stars. The idea of Bussard Ramjet is that system will pull hydrogen ions in it. And then the ions will be driven to the fusion reactor. 

Then that craft can fly to another solar system. The system will use the magnetic field to pull those ions to the channel that goes through it. And then the magnets and laser systems will ignite the fusion reaction. Those kinds of systems are the same way science fiction as some Daedalusor antimatter rockets. 

The fact is that the Bussard Ramjet cannot reach the speed of light or accelerate even near that speed. For some reason, people would not believe that interstellar travel would not happen by using manned spacecraft. In many visions, unmanned probes would make the first journeys between stars. Those systems would be extremely advanced Voyager probes. Those interstellar probes would be controlled by very advanced artificial intelligence and quantum computers. 

Originally the Daedalus was not manned. The idea was to create the interstellar Voyager space probe. The top speed of the Daedalus might be 20-30 percent of the speed of light. The Bussard ramjet would be a little bit faster. 

There is also the antimatter version of the Bussard ramjet. There would be Tokamak-type Reaktor around the tunnel of the interstellar ramjet. The tokamak would send the high-speed electrons or protons to the antimatter generator. 

There those high energetic antimatter particles will shoot to the ion flow that travels through that channel. That annihilation will increase the power of that engine. In the start, the interstellar ramjet would use a fission reactor for giving power to fusion systems and an electromagnetic field that pulls hydrogen ions in the engine. 

The thing is that the first interstellar crafts would be robots. And manned crafts will not send before the habitable planet has been found. The distance between stars is extremely long. And that means the crew that goes to another solar system will not ever return. So maybe those crew members would be clones who have no connections to Earth. 

The same way we can think of that hypothetical alien civilization will act. The only fact about interstellar spacecraft is that today they are all hypothetical. But probably we will create stable space stations and colonize Neptune until that interstellar flight before the interstellar spacecraft will send to its journey. 

If someday the manned spacecraft will send to another solar system. That journey would be one-way. The crew that leaves their home planet will never return. Maybe those journeys take more than generations. In some visions, the crew that controls the craft while it travels between stars would spend their entire life in anesthesia. The brains of those crew members would control the computers. But those crew members would never land on planets. 

That thing is reserved for the crew members that are traveling as hunger. So that could be one version of the generation craft. The hypothetical craft, that travels hundreds or even thousands of years. Between stars. And generations changes inside its core. That kind of craft can be possible in the distant future. 

https://scitechdaily.com/science-fiction-revisited-ramjet-propulsion-for-interstellar-space-travel/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimatter_rocket

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bussard_ramjet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Daedalus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokamak

   

 Why is planet Mars important when we are going interstellar?

Antimatter is one of the most promising fuels for the interstellar craft. The antimatter rocket is theoretically very easy to create. Material and antimatter will just need to impact inside the reaction chamber. 

Planet Mercury could be a perfect place for the antimatter factory. The antimatter-collection chambers would be the system that pulls the beta-particles like fast electrons that are coming from the Sun through the extremely thin gold layer. That thing turns those particles into antimatter. That can use as fuel for interstellar spacecraft. 

The fact is that producing antimatter in the spacecraft itself is possible. The system can just turn the collector to the star and then the particle flow will travel through the thin gold layer. That thing will turn the electrons that travel through that gold into antimatter. The antimatter can be stored in magnetic bottles. 

That means the hypothetical interstellar probe can fill their antimatter tanks very easily. Those probes must just fly against the particle flow, that comes from those stars. The Daedalus-spacecraft can easily equip with that kind of antimatter collector. And if that spacecraft has the antimatter collector or leaf gold layer with the magnetic chamber at its head. 

That thing allows it to fill the antimatter tank when it comes to the Alpha Centauri. The craft will store the antimatter in the ball-shaped magnetic bottles. And then the material that impacts with antimatter would be water, protons, electrons, or some hydrocarbons. The Proxima Centauri is part of Alpha Centauri system. And that star has a planetary system. 

The needed thing is that the mirror-particles of antimatter are involved in the annihilating material. So if the electrons are stored the positrons are the annihilating thing. If the protons are annihilating the antiprotons are the thing that causes the annihilation.  

Why Mars will be an important waypoint for interstellar travel? 

When human is going interstellar planet Mars has an important role in that kind of project. On that planet. Is possible to make social and technical tests for the systems. That should use for deeper space missions. And if we want to make the antimatter rocket that system can start far away from the Earth. 

Mars is an excellent place for laboratories where is developed the new type of propulsion systems. Those systems require extremely high energetic power sources. And the most promising power source is antimatter. The mass of antimatter that is needed for the journey to Alpha Centauri is about one kilogram if we want to bring samples from that solar system. 

The antimatter is needed for acceleration, braking, and then stabilizing the probe to a certain trajectory. And also returning from Alpha Centauri requires antimatter. The mass of antimatter that is needed for demolishing Earth is about one gram. And one gram of antimatter is needed for creating a fly-by probe. That travels past the Alpha Centauri system. But that project requires anyway extremely high-class investments. 

The thing is that handling that kind of material is extremely dangerous. So the laboratories where that kind of research is made should be very far away from Earth. 

Because if there is an accident and the antimatter touches the wall of the chamber. That thing can destroy the entire planet. If that laboratory would be on the moon. That causes the asteroid could impact Earth. 

And another thing is if the moon is destroyed. There is nothing that causes tidal waves. And the oceans start to drop to the equator. That causes horrible ecological catastrophe. The laboratories that are on Mars are not causing the same kind of threat. The problem is how to produce enough antimatter for an interstellar trip? 

One of the answers is that the antimatter production plant can create on the planet, Mercury. The Mercury could be the perfect place for the antimatter factory. As I wrote at the beginning of this text. But then the antimatter must carry to Mars. So the creation of antimatter in the craft itself would be easier. But there are lots of risks in that kind of mission. The craft should dive into the Sun. And then it creates antimatter in its collector. Then that antimatter will conduct to the rocket. 

https://www.inverse.com/innovation/mars-city-interstellar

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Daedalus

https://interestandinnovation.blogspot.com/

One improvement for Orion spacecraft

Kimmo Huosionmaa

The normal rifle could launch Highly Enriched Plutonium or Californium bullets in the back of the craft, and then that ammunition would target the electromagnetic radiation by using the parabolic antenna in the back of the craft. The gun would release the bullet in the middle of the antenna, and the bullet would go thru the focal point of radiation, what would cause the nuclear fission in that piece of the highly enriched nuclear isotope. In this system standard ammunition, that is filled with gunpowder and that would make the structure of that system simpler than some magnetic rails or some other electromagnetic solutions.


That would give a more sensitive punch, and makes easier to adjust the speed of the device. Sometimes those bullets were planned to fill with Lithium, and the radiation would be mixed radio and laser rays. In fact, the normal Lithium batteries could be used in that motor. The energy of this spacecraft would get from nuclear reactors, what gives enough power to lasers and other devices of that craft. This thing would be similar, what is planned for use in the "Daedalus".  The hypothetical space probe, what would sometimes in the future travel to the Alfa Centauri. Why I'm writing about "Orion" and "Daedalus" in the same text, is the propulsion of those spacecraft are basically the same, but "Orion" uses fission and "Daedalus" uses nuclear fusion for creating the power for accelerating the spacecraft.


Using a nuclear reactor for pumping the energy for fusion system allows making fusion motor application in the spacecraft. The fusion system in this hypothetical spacecraft is not self-operating or self-maintaining. It needs the outer power source for function. Or maybe fission would be used at the beginning of the operation, and then the ship would transfer to use fusion pellets.


Both systems can be installed in the same motor, and changing the tank would be only needed for an operation. In this case, another tank involves the fissile bullets, and another one would involve the fusion material, what would shoot thru the system by small rifle. In this case, the magnetic accelerators would be unnecessary, because the accelerating for the fuel capsules would happen with standard ammunition, what can be installed in the ammunition belt.


And even the minigun would be used in that mission. That would make "Daedalus" or "Orion" possible to shoot right away to the other planets. In the real life, the normal turbogenerator could give enough energy for starting nuclear fission in the pellets, what is filler with Californium, but would the fusion possible. That is the question mark.  That system would be used to send the space probe in our own Solar system, but other stars are the little bit too far away.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Daedalus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion)

Lockheed-Martin and fusion powered fighter, real-life Millennium Falcon

Picture I

Kimmo Huosionmaa

Lockheed-Martin corporation is trying to make fighter or airplane, what would use Fusion reactor for flying. That seems like something from Science fiction books, but in this case, would this fusion motor become the real thing. The fusion motor doesn't mean that the aircraft needs nuclear reactors or the fusion would be self-sustain.


In those concepts, what is theoretically investigated in tens of years, the fusion will give only the driving force. The motor itself is theoretical very simple, the fusion element would be conducted thru the reactor, and then the lasers would ignite the artificial sun inside or outside the reactor. Those lasers can get their electric power from fuel cells, conventional turbo-generators, what are rotating by jet turbines or by nuclear reactors.

"Daedalus"
Picture II

Also, windmill-generators what is used in some Electronic warfare aircraft can be used in that role (Picture IV). That kind of fusion reactor was planned to interstellar spacecraft "Daedalus" what was planned by interplanetary society. In that solution, the fusion reactor would use assisted by another propulsion system, what gives power to those lasers. Of course, those lasers can use acetylene lights in their lightning tubes, and that would decrease the need for electric power.

Picture III

Those lasers can be carbon-monoxide lasers, what are most powerful chemical lasers in the world. Their mission is to create enough energy, that fusion would start in the middle of them. That motor would be the very revolutionizing solution in aviation, and that would give change to travel in the universe at least in our own solar system and also in the atmosphere of planets.

Picture IV

In some wildest dreams, that fusion powered aircraft would look like the normal fighter, and it air intakes would use as the port for the interstellar ramjet. In that fictional motor, the powerful magnetic field would suck the ions thru the fusion motor, and in this process, the magnetic field would pressure that ion flow like wire, what goes thru the reactor, and then the laser rays would ignite the fusion. The problem of that system would be auxiliary power, what is needed to make those laser-rays and magnets what would press that ionic flow.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Daedalus

https://www.space.com/37146-nuclear-fusion-rockets-interstellar-spaceflight.html

http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/realdesignsfusion.php

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUUuMAsaJBU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeJCneMkxQk


Picture I

http://cdn3.theeventchronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/lockheed-martin-patents-nuclear-fusion-powered-fighter-jet.jpg

Picture II

http://public.media.smithsonianmag.com/legacy_blog/fusion-engine.jpg

Picture III
https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2010/03/george-h-miley-presentation-on-nuclear.html

Picture IV

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/8g2DinNhXCU/maxresdefault.jpg


https://crisisofdemocracticstates.blogspot.fi/


http://crisisofdemocracticstates.blogspot.fi/p/lockheed-martin-and-fusion-powered.html