Advanced Interplanetary Orion A manned mission to the moons of Saturn would require a DeltaV of 100 k/s, and involve a three year flight-time -- each way -- to insure adequate scientific pay-off, the spacecraft must have substantial mission capability beyond simply making the journey – this means landers capable of multiple surface missions to several target moons – loiter time at Saturn would need to be a year or more – total mission duration could extend seven to ten years. The duration of the mission and distances involved demand that the crew be able to deal with system and component failure, carry out repairs, and continue operations independent of any rescue or re-supply – all of this adds up to a massive payload requirement – payloads more massive than the International Space Station’s entire million + lbs. If we consider only propulsion systems that require no new technological break-through, propulsion systems which apply only known physics and materials, propulsion systems which can be built right now using currently available materials and techniques, then there is really only one choice: Orion. Orion is a fission powered impulse-driven kinetic energy reaction drive that is not power or energy limited. Orion is powered by ejecting shaped-charge fission munitions (atomic bombs) behind the spacecraft – these detonate in a controlled manner that channels all of the bombs energetic output into a narrow cone, the resulting plasma impacts against a flat (or shallow bowl-shaped) pusher-plate which absorbs and transmits the kinetic energy to the spacecraft, stepping it down through a series of staged shock-absorbers. Work on the historical Project Orion began at the General Atomics Corporation in San Diego in 1957. Project coordinators drew scientists and engineers from academia and from the Los Alamos nuclear weapons programs. Theodore Taylor joined the program from Los Alamos -- it was Taylor’s job to design Orion’s fission-driven Impulse Device, or drive-bomb. It was Freeman Dyson’s job to validate the physics and operational viability of the drive system mechanisms, most importantly those involving the drive-bomb pusher-plate and shock-absorber system. All rockets are limited in terms of the thrust-energy they can deliver – the limit being defined by the point at which they turn white-hot, melt, or blow apart. Thrust is limited by heat + force the structural components can contain. Orion delivers a high density thrust on an order of several magnitudes more energetic than the weight/mass of its components, and is not subject to heat/force limitations – because no effort is made to contain the energetic reaction which provides its thrust. The chief selling point of Orion for near-future deep space missions is that such a system, properly engineered, is simple, simple, and simple – there is very little that can go wrong with it (comparatively speaking) 794 million miles from earth. In 1964 NASA’s Marshal Space Flight Center performed a series of mission work-ups of numerous General Atomics Orion designs; these included everything from a 200 foot long orbital battle-ship for the Air Force, to a series of manned Mars mission spacecraft – and the Advanced Interplanetary Spacecraft. The advanced interplanetary Orion was designed to carry a payload of 1,300 tons to Enceladus and back. Freeman Dyson was so confident in the design that he fully intended to reserve space on the Saturn Mission and spend his retiring years on a journey to Saturn and back – Ted Taylor intended to bring his wife and children along – my point is that they believed with reason that such a vehicle could be made that safe -- and neither man foresaw any technical reason it could not fly as early as 1975. Marshal Space Flight Center and General Atomics engineers proposed sending two spacecraft to Saturn (for maximum redundancy and safety – either craft was capable of completing the mission alone), each would carry a crew of fifty mission specialists. After a thirty-six hour boost phase, habitat modules would extend on telescoping arms and reaction-jets would fire to rotate each space-craft about its long-axis, creating acceleration the crew would experience as gravity inside the habitat modules. Note: Orion project engineers calculated for a surface launch requiring 300 0.35 kt nuclear explosions to reach 38,000 meters, and 500 additional 15 kt nuclear explosions to reach a 480 kilometer high orbit. The spacecraft would then enter boost phase, insertion into a Saturn transfer orbit. Breaking at Saturn was propulsive, leaving sufficient fuel for a return trajectory to a 480 kilometer high earth parking orbit. Note: My goal here was to depict what it might look like if we built Orion today – and due consideration to modern political realities construction and launch from lunar orbit is the more likely scenario to consider. Note: Taking into consideration developments such as advanced computer modeling of complex integrated systems, computer-assisted design, and ultra-light/ultra-strong composite materials – none of which were available when the original Orion designs were spec’ed -- it is conceivable that performance of a modern day Orion might surpass the original Orion specifications. Saturn Mission Statistics: Mass: Diameter: Length: Gross 20,000,000 lbs Propulsion System 6,500,000 lbs 197 ft 295 ft Payload 2,600,000 lbs Asymmetrical 300 ft Fission Impulse charge size: 15 kt Exhaust velocity: 120,000 m/s Propellant Mass Flow: 3000 kg/s Acceleration: 4g

delicious details, bud!

Outstanding!

SUPERBLY done!

superlative image and work!

Wow!!! That is the most fantastic job on the modeling, Saturn looks absolutely stunning, the technical details in the ships is just brilliant, it's absolutely incredible! I love this kind of work, and you're certainly amongst the top people doing it. NASA ought to be hiring you, if they haven't already done so that is!

Saturn by 1970! That was their original goal. Alas, stupid test ban treaty. Would be a good way to get ride of all those surplus nukes now, though. Great modeling and image!

WOW, awesome image; ligthing and modeling!! Corrie

Excellent image my friend, I like how you used the Cassini image of Saturn and you got the lighting just right. This is quite hard to do when you are just using a picture of the planet and adding the models over top. The image is very clean and the presentation is awesome. The heat radiators look like they may have come from the NASA model of the ISS but if you did this yourself then props to you. Your presentation is always top notch and an inspiration to anyone that is interested in space exploration. Keep up the excellent work! All the best, David

Thanks David -- and thanks to all who have commented! The radiator panels are NASA ISS -- credits fixed (a complete oversight on my part).

A beautiful image.

This is a lovely space-exploration image, something that I'd hoped we'd have acomplished by now given the great strides the space program had made from the 70's to the 80's. I still have hope one day sights like this may become commonplace (probably not in my lifetime though). You put a lot of thought and research into your works, and it shows.