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  1. Newsgroups: sci.space
  2. From: chris@chrism.demon.co.uk (Chris Marriott)
  3. Path: sparky!uunet!pipex!demon!chrism.demon.co.uk!chris
  4. Subject: Re: *** BUSSARD RAMSCOOP *** 
  5. Distribution: world
  6. References: <1993Jan7.124608.1@fnalo.fnal.gov>
  7. Organization: None
  8. Reply-To: chris@chrism.demon.co.uk
  9. X-Mailer: Simple NEWS 1.90 (ka9q DIS 1.19)
  10. Lines: 26
  11. Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 21:49:09 +0000
  12. Message-ID: <726443349snz@chrism.demon.co.uk>
  13. Sender: usenet@demon.co.uk
  14.  
  15. In article <1993Jan7.124608.1@fnalo.fnal.gov> higgins@fnalo.fnal.gov writes:
  16.  
  17. >In article <C0GH9C.DA@zoo.toronto.edu>, henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
  18.  
  19. >Does a Bussard ramjet work *at all* below seriously relativistic
  20. >velocities?  
  21. >
  22. >Seems to me below some large speed, which I recall as
  23. >something much bigger than .5c, you don't gather enough interstellar
  24. >hydrogen to keep things stoked.  Admittedly I remember details rather
  25. >fuzzily, and don't know how to apply them to the "ram-augmented
  26. >interstellar rocket" Henry is talking about. 
  27. >
  28.  
  29. I don't remember now *where* I read it, but I seem to recall that a
  30. Bussard Ramjet starts working at speed around about 450km/sec.  Although
  31. this is an order of magnitude beyond the speeds of current space vehicles,
  32. it's certainly not unreachable eg, with ion drives.
  33. -- 
  34. --------------------------------------------------------------------------
  35. | Chris Marriott                           | chris@chrism.demon.co.uk    |
  36. | Warrington, UK                           | BIX: cmarriott              |
  37. | (Still awaiting inspiration              | CIX: cmarriott              |
  38. |  for a witty .sig .... )                 | CompuServe: 100113,1140     |
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