[ RadSafe ] Space Propulsion, Enriched Uranium, Fusion, Etc.

[JPreisig at aol.com]

Dear Radsafe:
 
      This is from:    _jpreisig at aol.com_ (mailto:jpreisig at aol.com)       .
 
 
      Hope you all are well and that your work  week is starting off OK.  
This e-mail is not based on any
Wiki-leaks information.  I have no US or other security  clearance.
 
      NOVA, on US public TV, had a show on space  propulsion the other day. 
 For websearch, see
Prometheus  (US/NASA).  On the TV show, there was suggested a  propulsion 
system based on
an Argon Ion plasma, which is being looked into.  NOVA also suggested  that 
they will have an
upcoming show on body organs grown from tissue samples or other bio-matter, 
 in petri dishes or
other Lab containers.
 
      My recent posting(s) on radsafe suggested  that enriched Uranium (or 
the Plutonium
alternative) could be used for space propulsion to reach velocities much  
higher than simple
Uranium fission (not enriched much) or chemical propulsion.  This is  fine 
if one is the US government
and can afford such a propulsion system.  We probably can afford such  a 
system via the US 
government and such a system appears do-able in the near future.
 
     I also proposed on radsafe a deuterium based  fusion propulsion system 
(deuterium ions colliding
with deuterium molecules).  This propulsion system requires further  
research.  Still, I wish right now 
that I was holding a few tons of deuterium, heavy water, Lithium, or a  
hydroelectric plant (like the
one in Norway....) and could make such a system go forward.  I could  see 
this system possibly
propelling a passenger car someday????
 
     It appears that pricey electric cars are reaching  US auto markets 
now.  Perhaps after some 
cost recovery and further vehicle design improvements, an economical  
electric car can be built
for the common citizen.  Just plug it into your household electric  outlet 
to charge it once in a while.
The electricity cost is apparently quite reasonable and the electricity  
would come from power
plants using coal. oil, nuclear, solar???? etc. fuels.  How  cool.
 
     What follows now is a bit off topic.  Hybrid  cars have an 
electricity/battery system for propelling an automobile as well as  a gasoline and/or 
diesel engine.   One can also envision a cheaper  version
of an electric car, and I apologize in advance if this is already someone  
else's idea.  The idea is
floated in this forum for free.  Do with it what you will.  An  electric 
car could also be produced which
has an electric drive system and no other gasoline based drive  system.  
However, an alternator/battery/
etc. system for charging  a cars batteries could be made using a  smaller 
gasoline motor/engine
which does not directly propels a car's engine, but just rather only keeps  
the automobile's 
batteries fully charged (most of the time).  Wonder what such degraded  
mode auto hybrid (a pseudo-
hybrid) would cost the ordinary guy????
 
       Anyway, that's all for now.  And  to the gentleman replying to my 
recent posting on the Large 
Hadron Collider, particle physics, and the like, I'd like to say thank you  
for the information.
Also a quote from a Three Stooges movie/episode is relevant because of  
where you live ----
Slowly I turn, step by step, inch by inch,... Niagara Falls!!!!.  You  
would have to have seen the 
Three Stooges movie/episode to understand what this is about.
 
       The world is pushing towards electric  cars, solar energy and 
perhaps nuclear energy for 
car battery charging.  Hope there's enough CO2 left to keep all the  trees 
alive.
 
 
       Regards,      Joseph R. (Joe) Preisig, Ph.D.