George Dyson: Let's take a nuclear-powered rocket to Saturn

[Djinnmeister]

The whole course of humanity going into space would have been so different if this project had gotten off the ground and worked.

[AndrewAngelScar]

with this technology we could have defeated the energy gridlock, the population explosion we would have a strong hedge against nuclear or bioterrorism, but instead we mothball our greatest technology so we can continue feeding welfare bums paying for uninsured sluts to have abortions and shooting galleries for the junkies to shoot their junk in. The human race fully deserves its impending extinction for not taking advantage of incredibly simple technology that could turn it all around. :(

[MoOtJeMan]

@coinageboy They were going to do it in space...radiation dissipates after a few months

[EdouardDubois]

That's hilarious...

In only 40 years we've forgotten so much.

[Membrane556]

Once you understand the physics of space travel you'd rather ride that thing to Mars or beyond then a chemical or solar propelled spacecraft.

[George97Dyson]

my name is george dyson

[DrZenith]

@coinageboy No buddy, it's you who are pathetic with your racist, junior high insults. As for labelling yourself 'a scientist'! I respect science and real scientists, but real scientists have better arguments than treating someone with who you have a difference of opinion as 'fat and asthmatic'.

[brianwurst1234]

how do you ride a 4000 ton nuclear bomb?

[NCAstronut]

@brianwurst1234 Most bombs explode outward. But They were going to focus the blast downward and use that massive explosion as propulsion. lol Like take a firecracker, and put it in a steel tube, instead of blowing apart, the bang all comes out the end, and pushs it up. Fast........

[ChrisInAStrangeLand]

@brianwurst1234

Carefully.

[thomasford]

@coinageboy

Uh, okay.

1. I'm not jewish. Neither I nor anyone in my family is even remotely jewish. We're german-irish.

2. No, I'm not asthmatic. Not in the fucking slightest.

3. I get laid plenty.

4. I seriously doubt you are a fucking scientist when you go around making fun of people for being "jewish and asthmatic" and talking about me not getting laid. That's far closer to a moronic redneck fucktard than anything I've ever heard from someone with an IQ higher than the double digits.

[thomasford]

@coinageboy

Well, you're a retard that doesn't know any fucking science, so go kill yourself.

[thomasford]

Did he say it would take 800 to get into orbit? 800 nukes? So the people on the spaceship were obviously planned to be the last humans left after launch then right? Okay, so they launch from orbit. Did I hear something about 2000 nukes to get to where ever? Like, our entire stock of nukes to propel one spaceship? It seems like they could scale this thing down significantly and just have a dozen or so nukes propel it a lot faster. Better than sending a Marriott hotel into space...

[Elukka]

The yield of those 800 nukes would be about 2,5% the yield of Ivy Mike, a single nuclear test (and far from the biggest one) during the cold war.

[Elukka]

Clarification: that's the total yield of all 800 bombs.

[thomasford]

I suppose they are smaller nukes then. And I would like to correct you on something. Ivy Mike was most certainly NOT the biggest nuclear weapon ever test. The russians tested a bomb known as either Tsar Bomba or Big Ivan and it was the largest nuclear device detonated at ~50 megatons.

[MadMichigander1313]

The smallest spherical assembly was the W-54 "Davy Crockett" which was rated at roughly 5 ton yield. The Tzar Bomba (a 4-stage thermonuclear device) was tested in it's "Clean" configuration with a rating of 57 megatons, and was rated at 100 megatons in it's 'dirty' (uranium tamper) configuration.

[thomasford]

@MadMichigander1313

Too bad we never went through with it.

[thomasford]

Damn, nevermind that. I misread what you said and see that you said it was "FAR FROM the biggest one". Sorry.

[mikeyjz]

@thomasford actually big nukes would destroy the ship. You would need 800 tiny nukes

[Membrane556]

We need to build this so we can have real scifi spaceships.

As for the radiation if you use a fusion reaction for the last stage in the bombs and build a huge steel platform from which to launch it on some worthless rock of a desert island fall out would not be an issue.

[peeeete]

retarded audience laughing

[esaman]

"Irrational Earth worship" lol

You ignorant little fuck.

Irrational is to think that anywhere inside and even outside of our limited reach there is a planet more suited for us and more miraculous than Earth.

It IS in space and there is life here, though you have to wonder if there is intelligent life here.

[maxell121]

also notice that is says "770 Rem/SHOT" on the chart, not "rad". 770 rem is defined as acute radiation poisoning, and almost 100% chance of death after 14 days.

[Palpatineli]

Not a real problem, the front half of the propelling board is there just for the weight. Just replace it with lead.

[mikeyjz]

@Palpatineli Depleted uranium makes for a far thinner, lighter, and more efficient shield

[Palpatineli]

@mikeyjz I was talking about radiation protection.

[maxell121]

"...radiation does at the crew station 700 rads per shot...."

LOL

[maxell121]

doses

[dar482]

Agreed, this guy should screw himself and stop wasting taxpayers money.

[castingtherunes]

Let's NOT take a rocket to Saturn and say we did. Why waste good taxpayer money on this technocratic bullshit?

[Hottides]

Few investments pay the substantial dividends of space exploration. Better that the taxpayers invest in humanity's future than in war, bureaucracy or pork.

[castingtherunes]

Investing in health, education, and the environment is more important. The repair of Mother Earth should be man (scam) kind's future. Will scamkind simply fly away to Saturn leaving its raped mother behind? Judging from how shallow all these technocrats are, I guess the answer is yes.

[Hottides]

"Technocrats" aren't afflicted with irrational Earth worship. Educated people with scientific perspectives know the Earth is 1 planet amid untold billions. As Freeman Dyson has argued, it's the destiny of life to expand via humanity beyond the Earth and green the endless frontier beyond. In the process, education would be furthered as the necessary scientific expertise is trained. Using space resources will mean less reliance on Earth's. Earth may be mother, but it's time to leave the cradle.

[thatguy291288]

If we were meant to nourish the earth we'd consume carbon dioxide, fart oxygen and poop ozone. Sound logic you tree hugging hippie......

[thatguy291288]

If we were meant to nourish the earth we'd consume carbon dioxide, fart oxygen and poop ozone. Sound logic you tree hugging hippie......

[castingtherunes]

I heard you the first time, techno-tard. And as usual, your logic is more retarded than ever. Go get a lap dance from your laptop, sad sock.

[Kasakkasotnia]

"Earth was meant"? You have personally talked to the Project: Universe development team and asked what was the purpose of our planet and our existence? Care to share their telephone number, I'd like to ask some questions too... but nice to know that we have one person here who knows The Purpose...

[castingtherunes]

I know more than all you tech-tards.

[79wx9z]

1:52 - 1:56

Where in Google is that?

[boydism08]

Really inspiring. Major influence in my artwork.

Thanks so much.

[ddball1]

The truth behind an urban legend. Thanks.

[putittogether]

If thats all NASA's got "on the self" in the advent of an asteroid....we are fucked.

[iosu81]

yamana!

[ScarDrey]

absolutely fascinating... but it just goes to show how much the govt is desperately attempting to keep from us! there is a whole universe that has been discovered that we don't know about, collectively, and it has to change! we can handle the truth, goddammit JUST TELL US!!!

[tkboyz]

only a small fraction of the ppl on this planet can handle the truth,, the majority are blinded by media and ignorance.

[Hottides]

What precisely is "govt is desperately attempting to keep from us"? Government's not responsible for educating you. It's you responsibility to EDUCATE YOURSELF about the world and the wider Cosmos.

[cdoftx]

@Hottides "govt is desperately attempting to keep from us" ==> meaning the US actually finds a practical way of traveling between planets but then tries to erase all knowledge of it from memory

[stevenaudet]

Is he still alive ? Or did an "accident" occur a few days after? lol

[CheeezMaster]

i always lol when i see the words "remarkable people" and clinton in the first frame.