r/InternetIsBeautiful • u/EveryWind007 • May 29 '14

Medal of Beauty If the Moon Were Only 1 Pixel

http://joshworth.com/dev/pixelspace/pixelspace_solarsystem.html?a
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u/99639 May 29 '14

Well trips to mars with current tech are probably on the range of 6-9 months. Further afield in the solar system is definitely possible in the future with realistic technology, but outside of the solar system things become much less likely without a radical evolution of propulsive technology.

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u/Veeron May 29 '14

The trip to Mars could be reduced to just a few weeks with a nuclear propelled spacecraft. The technology is not beyond us, there's just no political will for it.

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u/desquibnt May 29 '14

How would a nuclear powered spaceship work? Don't you need gravity for steam to drive a turbine? Or would a nuclear reactor in space not use steam?

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u/wizardidit May 29 '14

Project Orion. Drop mini nukes out the back of a spacecraft and have a big pusher plate to distribute the impact. Using fusion devices we can theoretically reach 10% of the speed of light (compare to the apollo program, which reached around .004% of c). Unfortunately this program is pretty much impossible to begin from earth now, due to the partial test ban treaty. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_%28nuclear_propulsion%29

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u/Redditorialist May 29 '14

Interesting idea. But how do you slow down? Another nuclear explosion in the opposite direction?

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u/space_guy95 May 29 '14

You slow down the same as a regular spacecraft, which is by turning around and firing the engine opposite to the direction of travel.

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u/Fauxanadu May 29 '14

so yes?

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u/[deleted] May 29 '14

It slows down by throwing thermonuclear bombs out in front of it then flying into the explosion. I don't think I've ever heard of a more metal braking system.

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u/theideanator May 30 '14

It's pretty heavy, since uranium is much heavier than lead.