Re: Voyager 1 Has Reached the Heliopause

James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> schrieb:

In article <1045ghm$34ch$1@dont-email.me>,
Thomas Koenig  <tkoenig@netcologne.de> wrote:

John Savard <quadibloc@invalid.invalid> schrieb:

...and I happened to bump into this news story about it:
>
https://www.elcabildo.org/en/nasa-announces-voyager-1s-stunning-new-
discovery-at-the-outer-limits-of-our-solar-system-50137/

>
It would be interesting what the Voyager data could tell us about
the feasibility of Bussard ramjets.
>
They have been a staple of SF for a long time (see Niven), but the
density of charged nuclei in interstellar space may be too small
for them to work well.

>
About half a century ago, Heppenheimer published a paper showing
the classical Bussard ramjet would be about a billion times better
at radiating energy than generating it.

What is the physical mechanism?  Bremsstrahlung?

This in turn led to the
invention of magsails, if I recall correctly.

I'd rather have a nuclear salt water reactor, but I'm told a prompt
critical reactor is very hard to control...


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