Re: Re: starship-design: What is SD about?

[KellySt@aol.com]

In a message dated 10/28/98 2:38:42 PM, Shealiak@XS4ALL.nl wrote:

>Hi Alan,
>
>>I was hoping that someone had settled on a
>>drive system and was actively pursuing a worked out design, but really this
>>discussion is more open ended.
>
>I believe there are two designs out there, but they haven't been updated
>for quite some time.

Well there were 4.

M.A.R.S.  Microwave augmented rocket system.  What beamed microwaves are
focused to drive a rocket to boost toward the sol beam source.  Microwave sail
is used for thrust away from beam.  Not very well developed.

My two
Explorer and fuel sail.  Both use Lithium-6 fusion fuel rockets.  They carry a
big slug of it to decelerate into the target system, and mine enough there to
boost there way back home.  Leaveing or decelerating into our solar system
they get "power" from us back home.  Explorer gets a stream of fusion fuel
packets launched to it.  Fuel/Sail uses a microwave beam sent to bounce off a
microwave sail.  At launch from our star system Fuel/Sail's sail is a huge
wire mesh.  The wire is the spun out deceleration fuel.  (The reason I liked
Lithium-6 is that it can server as a structural metal.)  Both of mine can do
about .3c to .4c.


The last on was Tradewinds.  Which I think was someones idea where a slow
robot probe is sent ahead to construct a massive microwave array system.
Whewn done light microwave sail craft can zing back and forth quickly.

A few other ideas have been discused, but not submited for inclusion when I
did the last LIT update.

Kelly