Airbrush Posted July 10, 2020 Posted July 10, 2020 (edited) Does anyone know how small a nuclear fission explosion can be for nuclear pulse propulsion? It seems that you would want a "tiny bomb" with the smallest mass possible. You want to give enough push to your pusher plate but you don't want the tiny bombs to add too much weight to your space probe. The smallest I could find is the Davy Crocket: "The M-28 or M-29 Davy Crockett Weapon System was .... one of the smallest nuclear weapon systems ever built, with a yield between 10 and 20 tons TNT equivalent [1/1000th Hiroshima]." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davy_Crockett_(nuclear_device) ONE of the smallest? What are the others? By now there must be smaller ones, after 70 years of improved fission technology. The Davy Crocket weighed 51 pounds. Maybe this yield of 10 to 20 tons TNT is practical for pushing a probe to Alpha Centauri at 10%c? How many pulses of a Davy Crocket bomb does it take to get a probe with a total mass of 100 tons going 10%c? I think the science payload can be a few tons and most of the mass would be a robust frame, a huge pusher plate, and the fuel bombs. When an unmanned probe is moving 10%c do you think it should have a streamlined shape to minimize contact with bits of matter of various sizes, that may exist between us and Alpha Centauri? Edited July 10, 2020 by Airbrush
swansont Posted July 10, 2020 Posted July 10, 2020 ! Moderator Note You have a thread on this already
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