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starship-design: deepimpact



well, i saw 'deep impact' this weekend, against my better judgement. 
as far as a plot and all that goes, it was a real stinkeroo.  i can't
believe it got three stars.  as with every 'serious' sci-fi film they
had a chance to educate their audience a little, but did a mostly awful
job.  however, they did mention 'explosive outgassing' on the comet's
surface as making working on the comet's day side impossible.  they
mentioned the "orion'' type propulsion, but didn't elaborate except to
say it was a nuclear, as opposed to chemical reaction engine.  they even
got the pusherplate thing on the back more or less right.  the effects
of the comet were a little exaggerated, i thought.  the crowning glory
of the entire movie tho was when the (manned?!) spacecraft approached
the comet through the tail and in the process were buffeted by pieces of
comet that they shouldn't have survived. 'Deep Impact' might do some
good anyway by heightening public awareness of the impactor threat and
spurring more space research. 
nels lindberg