On Nov 29, 8:54*am, Sam West wrote:
On Nov 17, 4:45*pm, David Spain wrote:



Pat Flannery writes:

The free pdf of the book is hehttp://www.neofuel.com/inhabit/inhabit.pdf

Pat

So I've always wondered what would be easier and more cost effective.

A "fixed fuel" design based on a set number of stored, pre-built bombs,
or flying a production reactor that could produce plutonium and deuterium
and/or tritium on-the-fly as well as generate electricity for the spacecraft?

The bombs get built as needed and it gives the crew something to
do (yes, other than expanding the crew) during the interstellar legs of the
flight.

I'm purposely ignoring all the treaties that'd have to be redone in order
to enable any of this...

Dave

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_pulse_propulsion

Laser light sails are practical for interstellar voyages at 1/3 light
speed.
Nuclear pulse rockets can only attain 1/300th light speed at best.

Laser light sails that travel between nearby stars augmented by laser
powered plasma thrusters for planetary operations is ideal.

A mobile solar (star) powered laser beam with thin film optics - very
similar to the light sail - is transported to the target star to
deploy a network of beams to support a steady traffic between nearby
stars.