605
Can we build a ship from Star Trek Enterprise
1
An anonymous self-proclaimed engineer Dan launched a website BuildTheEnterprise, devoted to the possibility of creating USS Enterprise from Star Trek on the basis of existing technologies. After that, the journalists interviewed these NASA experts for feasibility of this idea.
2
Dan believes that the USS Enterprise now is quite possible to build and equip a set of powerful ion engines and 1, 5-gigawatt nuclear reactor. Such a ship, he estimates, is quite capable in the three months to fly to Mars. Collect this giant machine will have a length of 960 meters in space, orbiting the Earth. But, using the ideas of the author Star Trek, you can create artificial gravity on the ship in 1g (in the main disk Enterprise was available for double hull, the inner hull is hovering on magnetic levitation and rotated around its axis, creating in the outer regions of the disk of Earth's gravity).
3
Interviewed experts, including engineers, NASA, reacted to the idea with skepticism. "In short: a great idea but not very practical, too optimistic in assessing the developments in the near future, - says John Elliott, head of systems engineering Flight NASA Outer Planet Flagship Mission, the set up systems to send the AMC to the moons of Saturn and Jupiter. - But if it makes people think unconventionally, offering original solutions, it's not so bad. "
According to him, the problems begin with a nuclear reactor. "The reactors are scalable to such a high capacity, but shielded from radiation and thermal engineering in space will be quite a challenge," - says John Elliott. At the same time he asked the journalists not to consider his words as the official position of NASA. "I would not say that it can not be done with the necessary resources, but it is likely that the result will not look like the original draft Enterprise», - he podchёrknul. The fact is that almost any project to ship nuclear reactor means that the onboard nuclear power requires the placement in an isolated part of the structure, which is as far away from the residential unit. Typically, between trying to accommodate as reserve fuel for ion propulsion, additional shielding for the crew of a nuclear reactor.
4
Another problem - ion engines themselves. Already, they are able to disperse the ship up to 320 thousand kilometers per hour, but they are very weak draft (50-100 mN) makes overclocking very long. It takes an incredible amount of engines and a complex system of their power to ensure that the ship almost kilometer three-month duration of the flight to Mars.
The challenge will be to maintain and gravity of the ship by its rotation. According to Nicholas Lee, a member of Stanford University (USA), dealing with satellite systems, centrifugal rotation of the ship will lead to the demolition of its direct path. "It's the same thing as to take an external hard drive and wave it in the air until it is active," - says Lee. Undoubtedly, there will be perpendicular to the demolition, besides fluctuating depending on the number of persons and goods in the central disk.
On his website, Dan offers guests cope with this problem, install the disk counter-rotating with the same parameters, but with the opposite vector - to balance the demolition. However, it is extremely difficult to design.
5
Finally, experts say that a complex form, characteristic, for example, to the ISS (for Enterprise), is not suitable for large mobile vehicles. In terms of the weight of the optimal form of reasonable strength and considerable internal volume of a sphere or a set of spheres - functional modules. Spacecraft can be sub-optimal form, but then it will have more weight with equal strength and internal volume.
6
To build Enterprise on Earth orbit would take 650 flights developed by NASA booster rocket Space Launch System, which even the most optimistic forecasts could not in orbit more than 130 tons per flight. "Because of the cost of such an undertaking may be that for construction will be cheaper to use lunar resources, or even to mine resources and the construction of the ship using the asteroid", - quotes the words of John Elliott Wired.
steal here: http: //www.livestream.ru/news/2012/05/21/enterprise/
Source:
An anonymous self-proclaimed engineer Dan launched a website BuildTheEnterprise, devoted to the possibility of creating USS Enterprise from Star Trek on the basis of existing technologies. After that, the journalists interviewed these NASA experts for feasibility of this idea.
2
Dan believes that the USS Enterprise now is quite possible to build and equip a set of powerful ion engines and 1, 5-gigawatt nuclear reactor. Such a ship, he estimates, is quite capable in the three months to fly to Mars. Collect this giant machine will have a length of 960 meters in space, orbiting the Earth. But, using the ideas of the author Star Trek, you can create artificial gravity on the ship in 1g (in the main disk Enterprise was available for double hull, the inner hull is hovering on magnetic levitation and rotated around its axis, creating in the outer regions of the disk of Earth's gravity).
3
Interviewed experts, including engineers, NASA, reacted to the idea with skepticism. "In short: a great idea but not very practical, too optimistic in assessing the developments in the near future, - says John Elliott, head of systems engineering Flight NASA Outer Planet Flagship Mission, the set up systems to send the AMC to the moons of Saturn and Jupiter. - But if it makes people think unconventionally, offering original solutions, it's not so bad. "
According to him, the problems begin with a nuclear reactor. "The reactors are scalable to such a high capacity, but shielded from radiation and thermal engineering in space will be quite a challenge," - says John Elliott. At the same time he asked the journalists not to consider his words as the official position of NASA. "I would not say that it can not be done with the necessary resources, but it is likely that the result will not look like the original draft Enterprise», - he podchёrknul. The fact is that almost any project to ship nuclear reactor means that the onboard nuclear power requires the placement in an isolated part of the structure, which is as far away from the residential unit. Typically, between trying to accommodate as reserve fuel for ion propulsion, additional shielding for the crew of a nuclear reactor.
4
Another problem - ion engines themselves. Already, they are able to disperse the ship up to 320 thousand kilometers per hour, but they are very weak draft (50-100 mN) makes overclocking very long. It takes an incredible amount of engines and a complex system of their power to ensure that the ship almost kilometer three-month duration of the flight to Mars.
The challenge will be to maintain and gravity of the ship by its rotation. According to Nicholas Lee, a member of Stanford University (USA), dealing with satellite systems, centrifugal rotation of the ship will lead to the demolition of its direct path. "It's the same thing as to take an external hard drive and wave it in the air until it is active," - says Lee. Undoubtedly, there will be perpendicular to the demolition, besides fluctuating depending on the number of persons and goods in the central disk.
On his website, Dan offers guests cope with this problem, install the disk counter-rotating with the same parameters, but with the opposite vector - to balance the demolition. However, it is extremely difficult to design.
5
Finally, experts say that a complex form, characteristic, for example, to the ISS (for Enterprise), is not suitable for large mobile vehicles. In terms of the weight of the optimal form of reasonable strength and considerable internal volume of a sphere or a set of spheres - functional modules. Spacecraft can be sub-optimal form, but then it will have more weight with equal strength and internal volume.
6
To build Enterprise on Earth orbit would take 650 flights developed by NASA booster rocket Space Launch System, which even the most optimistic forecasts could not in orbit more than 130 tons per flight. "Because of the cost of such an undertaking may be that for construction will be cheaper to use lunar resources, or even to mine resources and the construction of the ship using the asteroid", - quotes the words of John Elliott Wired.
steal here: http: //www.livestream.ru/news/2012/05/21/enterprise/
Source:
