starship-design: Re: No Subject

[KellySt@aol.com]

In a message dated 4/16/00 1:50:37 PM, Cometcatch writes:

>Hello.  Read some of your papers.  Could you tell me who is Robert Bussard,
>where he did his work, what years?
>Thanks.
>E-mail: Cometcatch@aol.com

Hi,
He was a physicist.  He started his career in the 60's I think.  Don't know 
where he worked, but a libraries "Who's Who" reference book should list it 
all.  You can also get a list of all the stuff he's published.

His most famous idea is called a "Bussard Ramscoop stardrive".  The idea was 
that you could scoop up interstellar hydrogen in flight, fuse it for thrust, 
and accelerate.  Effectively a star ship engine that you wouldn't need to 
carry any fuel for.  The idea doesn't look like it would work, since there is 
so little interstellar hydrogen in our area, and the drag from the huge 
magnetic fields would slow you down faster then the fusion rockets could 
accelerate you, but it was a very interesting idea.

Hope this helps.

Glad you like the site!

Kelly