Radioactive decay propulsion and electrical device

Abstract

This embodiment relates to a lifting or flying device using the energy from the radioactive decay of radioactive elements to accelerate an object. A thin radioactive coating is spread over a large surface area that allows most of the radiated particles to escape. The force from the decay of an unobstructed side A of a flattened or curved radioactive emitting device has enough energy to push an object toward its opposite side B expelling particles or waves at relativistic speeds in its exhaust if side B is covered by a shield that prevents most of the radiation from escaping that side. Trillions of small microscopic explosions per second per gram of radioactive material has enough energy from radioactive decay from alpha, beta, or gamma rays decaying to escape on A side which is much greater number of particles escaping than shielded side B imparting a force in in B direction.

Claims

1) The nuclear matter beneath shield 3 adds thrust to the entire system by using a shield on side B side to stop alpha or beta particles from escaping while letting the continuous release of trillions of alpha or beta particles per second per gram on or near the surface of side A to lift the embodiment towards B.

2) The excess thermal energy FIG. 1 side B can be converted to electrical energy to power the instruments by converting some of the waisted thermal energy into electricity as shown in FIG. 10,11,12.

3) If using nuclear beta decaying particles a high voltage negative charged thin shield FIG. 13 18 for beta particles to deflect the particles on the shielded side B towards the unopposed side will add extra force towards to this embodiment thrust. If using nuclear alpha decaying particles a high voltage positive charged thin shield FIG. 13 18 would deflect decaying alpha particles away from said shield adding more force to the thrust of this embodiment. Like amount of charged particles repel each other.

4) A Radiation Sail that is propelled by radiation particles 2, doesn't need any other kind of propulsion, mass, or auxiliary electric power including the sun to explore our solar system and nearby stars. A PU238 Radiation Sail the same size as the Solar Sail has more than 200 times more thrust than a solar sail acting on the same size sail. A lot of money has been spent on Solar Sail technology for such low amount of thrust, there is no chance of getting close to a fraction of the speed of light with a Soler Sail, one calculation will take it 1,000 years to reach one of our closest stars. A light sail does it in a much faster time. A massively costly Light Sail propelled with lasers to a Solar Sail like surface can get to a percent of the speed of light if it can maintain its focus on the sail, once the light sail get to a certain speed it has no way to slow down once it gets to its destination. A Radiation Sail doesn't need a massive auxiliary power source, the shielded side produces its own thermal and electric power. Radiation Sail can turn itself around to decelerate close to its destination to slow itself down before getting to its destination.

5)

6) If humans can survive time dilation past 20 percent the speed of light, then they can get to our closest star within 7 years with a Radiation Sail. It will take about 25 years at 20 percent the speed of light to get to our nearest stars.

7) Spreading a thin layer of radiation on the 32 square meter surface area adjacent to a protected shield, most of the alpha or beta particles FIG. 1, 2, on one side has enough energy to accelerate the object in space much faster than a Solar or Light Sail. Shield B restricts most of the Alpha or Beta particles from leaving the embodiment. For an example the VASIMR engine which must carry a massive amount of mass for its axillary power supply, top exhaust speed is 50 km/s with a VASIMR engine with 200 kilowatts of power that exerts only about 5 newtons of force. A .sup.90Sr.sup.90Y Radiation Sail exhaust speed is up to 296,000 km/s about 99 percent of light. A pure .sup.90Y solar sail the size of the 32 meter Solar Sail thrust is about 10,000 newtons where the same size solar sails is 0.00029 newtons. Its important to note that the half life of .sup.90Y is 64 hours, it decays into stable zirconium.

Description

DRAWINGS

[0020] FIG. 1 is an artist view that describes how nuclear decay with trillions of microscopic explosions per gram can lift and propel an object in space

[0021] FIG. 2 shows a section of FIG. 1

[0022] FIG. 3 shows an artist drawing of a cubic centimeter sliced into 100 pieces that will cover 100 square centimeters surface area, 6

[0023] FIG. 4 is an artist drawing showing a lifting device using the recoil force from fission to move an device in the opposite direction as the exhaust particle

[0024] FIG. 5 Is an artist drawing showing how to control the force from the fission by opening or closing the exhaust side

[0025] FIG. 6 shows how a very thin solar radiation shield 7 can stop the sun from overheating the radioactive material

[0026] FIG. 7 is an artist drawing showing layers of cylindrical fissionable material heating up a gas 8 that is forced out of the rocket nozzle

[0027] FIG. 8 shows a Solar Sail that is propelled from the force of solar radiation, 9

[0028] FIG. 9 Shows a Radiation Sail that is propelled by 2, it doesn't need any other kind of propulsion or auxiliary electric power including the sun to explore our solar system and nearby stars

[0029] FIG. 10 Is an artist drawing from the shielded side 3 turning the kinetic energy from decaying particles 2 into thermal energy that then turns it into electrical energy by a Sirling engine

[0030] FIG. 11 is an artist drawing of a Thermal Electric Generator 11 that turns thermal energy into electrical energy from the shielded side 3

[0031] FIG. 12 is an artist drawing of trillions negative charged or positive charge particles 2 in one 1 gram of radioactive decaying matter exiting of a thin layer spread over 1 m.sup.2 surface area

DETAIL DESCRIPTION

[0032] FIG. 1

[0033] In the use of nuclear fission power plants as much as 99.9 or more of the decaying matter releases its kinetic energy inside the nuclear material turning it into thermal energy, only the outside very thin surface releases decaying particles into the unobstructed space.

[0034] When I stated decaying particles for this explanation only, it refers to Alpha or Beta particles only. Fast neutrons, x-rays, gamma rays, can easily escape both sides of this embodiment.

[0035] If all that mass of radioactive particles were spread out in a thin enough layer approximately half of the particles go through A side and the other half of the particles go through B side then most of the decaying atoms are providing thrust on A side and the other decaying atoms is providing thermal energy from the kinetic energy that strikes shield 3 matter keeping them from escaping.

[0036] Note the thickness of the radioactive matter can be much more than a thin layer 1 to extract out more thermal energy that can be converted into electrical energy or used to heat the space probe from Side B. Side A is restricted to how many decaying particles escape directly underneath its top thin surface to provide thrust by its thickness and density over its surface area. The artist drawing explains how this embodiment would work using radioactive decay of atoms in matter 1, a thin radioactive coating surface of radioactive matter emits particles off side A. In FIG. 1 drawing the surface thickness 1 is thin enough that less than half of the escaping decay particle 2 escapes the nuclear fission matter on unobstructed side A into space, the other half of the particle in matter 1 is trapped between the thin shield 3 therefore is restricted from escaping side B turning its kinetic energy into thermal energy.

[0037] FIG. 2

[0038] Shows a section of FIG. 1 where particle 2 decays from mass 1 as stated in FI 1. Depending on the type of decay material some of the nuclear fission atoms such as .sup.90Y emits Beta particles with a 2.7 day half-life that decays into stable Zirconium 90, pure .sup.90Y has an immense amount of stored energy 19,900,000,000,000,000 or 19,900 trillion atoms decays per gram per second departing approximately 10,000 newtons of force from one side of a 32 square meter surface area like the solar Sail with an exhaust speed of 99 percent the speed of light, approximately 296,000 km/s.

[0039] FIG. 3

[0040] Shows an artist drawing of a cubic centimeter sliced into 100 pieces, 6, that will cover 100 square centimeters surface area, the mass and thickness is controlled by the density of the decaying material such that .sup.90Sr.sup.90Y has a density of 2.64 grams per cubic centimeter.

[0041] FIG. 4

[0042] Is an artist drawing showing a lifting device using the recoil force from fission to move a device in the opposite direction as the exhaust particle from side A explosively escapes the surface, with a thin layer as much as trillions of particles per second per gram will exit the surface with a microscopic explosion speeding away at relativistic speeds.

[0043] FIG. 5

[0044] Is an artist drawing showing how to control the force from the fission by blocking or opening or closing the exhaust side doors. Simply by enclosing in the unshielded side a certain amount trapping the particles inside of the embodiment preventing the radiation from getting in the exhaust therefore reducing the force of the radioactive lifting device.

[0045] FIG. 6

[0046] Shows how a very thin solar radiation reflective shield 7 can stop the sun from overheating the radioactive material but allow escaping particles to go right through it. The reason to use the thin sun shield is to control the amount of solar radiation that hits side 1 keeping it from overheating in space when the unobstructed side faces the sun.

[0047] FIG. 7

[0048] Is an artist drawing showing layers of cylindrical fissionable material a short distance away from each other heating up a gas 8 FIG. 7 within an enclosed space that is forced out of the rocket nozzle. Alpha particles decay is highly ionizing, at 1 atmosphere can penetrate just a few centimeters of air, beta particles are ionizing too but not as much as Alpha particles, therefore injection a gas at a certain pressure, the radioactive walls can be very close to each other that radiates alpha particles ionizing and heating the exhaust gas allowing much more heat and the ionized gas, plasma, to escape. This method uses two types of forces as thrust in this embodiment that can be ejected giving it extra thrust like an ion drive before exiting the tank through the rocket engine nozzle increasing the thrust.

[0049] FIG. 8

[0050] Shows an artist drawing of a Solar Sail that is propelled from the force of solar radiation, 9 FIG. 8 on the sail material. A 32 square meter Solar Sail force from the Earths distance from the sun imparts a very small amount of thrust from solar radiation, approximately 0.00029 newtons of force on the sail.

[0051] FIG. 9

[0052] Shows an artist drawing of a Radiation Sail that is propelled by radiation particles 2, it doesn't need any other kind of propulsion, mass, or auxiliary electric power including the sun to explore our solar system and nearby stars. A PU238 Radiation Sail the same size as the Solar Sail force is approximately hundreds of times more force than a solar sail acting on the same size sail.

[0053] FIG. 10

[0054] Is an artist drawing from the shielded side 3 turning the kinetic energy from decaying particles 2 into thermal energy that then turns it into electrical energy by a Sirling Engine 10. At least half of the decay from the matter 1 is thermal heat that penetrates the shield 3, can be turned into electrical energy by a Siding Engine which has an efficiency of 31 percent.

[0055] FIG. 11

[0056] Is an artist drawing of a Thermal Electric Generator, TEG, 11 that turns thermal energy into electrical energy from the shielded side 3. A TEG will last for decades without being serviced has a maximum efficiency of 12 percent. One side of this embodiment provides thrust the other side provides energy for the probe or space travelers therefore not needing a large mass auxiliary power source.

[0057] FIG. 12

[0058] Is an artist drawing of trillions of negative charged or positive charge particles 2 in one 1 gram of a thin layer spread over 1 m.sup.2 surface area of radioactive decaying matter from unobstructed side A providing thrust from negative charged or positive charge particles 2. On the opposite side B the shield 17 is a thin moderato that slows the particle speeds down to low UV speeds that strikes the florescence gas or film that trapped inside 14 giving off light. The light is captured by the solar cell that turns it into electricity. On the way through moderato 17 the particles interact with the easily ionized matter in 17 to give off a chain reaction of ionized particles that have energy within the medium visible light spectrum that also escapes 14. This adds to the other particles that went through 14 giving off even more light adding more photons that strikes trapped gas or film 14, increasing its photo electric effect turning it into electricity within solar cell 15. Conducting wires trapped between 17 and 14 removes the slower charge particles down enough for a anode and cathode that captures them creating a current charging a battery 16 adding to the solar cells electrical energy.

REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0059] 1 preferred radioactive decaying source material, such as .sup.90Sr.sup.90Y or .sup.238PU [0060] 2 escaping alpha, beta, gamma or neutrons particles [0061] 3 shield [0062] 4 radiant thermal energy [0063] 5 1 cubic centimeter [0064] 6 a thin layer [0065] 7 a thin reflective shield [0066] 8 a container of gas or liquid [0067] 9 solar photons [0068] 10 sirling engine [0069] 11 solar sail [0070] 12 radiation sail [0071] 13 thermal electric generator [0072] 14 fluorescent substances gas or film [0073] 15 solar cells [0074] 16 Battery to capture positive or negative charge particles [0075] 17 thin nuclear moderator that slows most of the alpha or beta particle momentum down before exiting

OPERATIONS

[0076] A thin radioactive .sup.90SR.sup.90Y coating is attached to a thin radiation shield the radiation is spread out in such a way as to extract the most beta particles out of the substance on one side while the other side is shielded to prevent particles from escaping. As a result, it produces a force in one direction that will accelerate an object in space, its reaction would similar to what a solid rocket booster does to lift an object. One gram of .sup.90SR.sup.90Y produces more than 0.91 joules of energy per gram, that energy is spread out to over 100 square centimeters, it is used to lift a device into space.