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Project Icarus: the Gas Mines of Uranus
astroengine writes "When considering the fuel source for a fusion-powered interstellar probe, wouldn't it be a good idea to set up a colony on the moon and start pillaging the lunar surface for its helium-3 riches? Not so fast, says Adam Crowl of Project Icarus, there may be a far more viable source. What about the gas giants? Although Jupiter's gravity could pose a problem and Saturn's rings might get in the way (and forget Neptune, that place is one hell of a commute), perhaps the helium-3 in the Uranian atmosphere could be mined using atmospheric balloons?"
The gas mines.... of Uranus.
Please tell me that this story is a joke.
This is not a joke post.
this is actually an interesting article. Certainly more thought-provoking than the latest smart-phone malware.
Rather than shipping factories to outer planets and extracting helium-3 from a dilute mixture, why not use technology that already exists? Irradiate lithium in a fission reactor, get tritium as a result, and let it decay to helium-3.
"It does seem to be sufficient short-term profit to motivate private industry. If we humans ever go to those worlds than it will be because a nation or a consortium of them believes it to be to its advantage or to the advantage of the human species...
Just now, there are a great many matters pressing in on us that compete for the money it takes to send people to other worlds. Should we solve those problems first or are they a reason for going?"
Carl Sagan quotes get you an automatic +5 on all posts.
Only if it doesn't involve runny noses.
I felt a great disturbance in the 'net... as if a million voices suddenly cried out in bad jokes, and were suddenly posted on Slashdot.
This story should be fun.
dragonhawk@iname.microsoft.com
I do not like Microsoft. Remove them from my email address.
would this be the first time a goatse link would likely be modded informative?
It cannot be helped if you lack imagination. With your limited logic, yes the plan definitely seems unfeasible.
But let us look at the obvious flaw in your argument. First, define "decent speed". The energy you are actually expending is in achieving escape velocity. Once you are in space and already moving towards Earth, little energy is required. There is no friction so as to speak of, in space, for one thing. And who said the fuel needs to reach us within a week? The ship might take 30 years. Or more. Think of it as a leisurely speed. With a few such ships being launched at regular intervals, you can establish a constant chain of supply.
Second flaw in your logic, you are a tad too eager with the "never ever". Like those other idiots who announced that the man is not meant to fly and will "never ever" do so. You fail to account for new technologies or creative solutions emerging. If we humans are good at anything, it is at solving problems. All that is needed is that we should actually WANT to go to other planets and mine them for resources. And that we should allot resources towards finding a way to do this.
Idiots like you of course, are short sighted and simply figure that it is a waste of your tax-money since only your kids/grandkids will benefit instead of you. Who cares if the mankind stays chained to a single planet and gets wiped out in a single catastrophe, since you do not think it likely within your own lifetime. And you do not give two hoots if your kids die cursing your name, for your short-sightedness.
It took decades/centuries of research and inventions before we got to the point where we actually directly benefit from Wright Brother's initial flight efforts. And at that time idiots like you existed who denounced it all as a waste of money. Now you will happily hop into a flight, since you are benefiting directly. If I pointed out how we have benefited from investing into NASA(ear thermometers used for babies, scratch resistant glasses, sports/athletic shoes, communication satellites that provide you with TV, telecommunications, safety grooving on highways that prevent accidents, water filters, CAT scanners, computer microchips which led to PCs and Laptops, insulation, speedo swimsuits, memory forams, rust-proof coatings to name a few), you will just poo-pah. You will rather have folks die instead of having NASA contribute to the MRI technology that saves lives across the world. Because NASA funding as per geniuses like you, is a waste of money.
Folks like you would demand moronic laws in the name of "think of our children" but when it comes to actually making their future a little better, folks like you don't actually give a shit about your children and your grand-children. After all, YOU are not benefiting immediately. Right?
We don't even have fusion working yet, and He-3 isn't the easiest fuel to fuse, so it won't be burned by first-generation reactors. So stop talking about it as a primary reason to go to the moon, already! Let's get some kind of fusion working first.
That being said, getting some kind of a ship to Uranus that could collect it would be enough of a technological challenge that we would probably have fusion working by then.
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
...beamed back to Earth via lasers or microwaves?
I think the vast distances involved would mess that up. The lasers used to do the retroreflector experiment between Earth and the moon had a calculated divergence of about 1.04 x 10^-3 radians. Using a 1m laser at Uranus, the divergence would have to be 2.8 x 10^-4 radians just to make the beam the same diameter as the Earth. That's a factor of 4 or so. To get the beam into a circle that covers the same area as the state of Texas you'd need divergence on the order of 2 x 10^-5 radians. Suddenly you're looking at a factor of 50, and that doesn't take atmospheric effects into account. Add to that the complexities of precisely aiming such a laser, and I think you'd be hard-pressed to harvest must energy.
Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.