Engineers turn ideas (technical, scientific, mathematical) into reality. Tell us about an engineering idea you have or your interest in engineering. Explain how Cornell Engineering can help you further explore this idea or interest.
I have a thought which may seem a little weird but may come to reality. The Idea is,using nuclear fuel as a propellent for deep space rockets.
Up until now we were using liquid fuel propellents or solid fuel propellents or sometimes hybrid fuel propulsion systems where we have a little of liquid and a little of solid propellents. In such type of systems we have to use bulk quantity of the propellent of which all most all of the fuel is used up to give rocket enough escape velocity to escape the earth gravitational influence and enter the space. By the time the rocket enters space it already uses up its solid rocket boosters and its liquid oxygen fuel is then used for its orbital insertion. We may think that the rocket is running by 'Thrusting' itself against something. this may be partly true during the lift off part but for the remaining propulsion,the rocket uses the pressure of its gases in the combustion chamber against the nozzle's to move forward. Now with this type of propulsion system we can regulate our operations with in the earth's orbit and the shallow depths of space. We cannot go any where beyond that,but with the nuclear propulsion system we can reach speeds and distances beyond our imagination.
For nuclear propulsion to work we don't need separate boosters we just a combustion chamber inside the main rocket,where we can fit our proposed nuclear reactor. The reactor works just the same way as the conventional nuclear reactor,but the difference is all of the energy which is produced will be channeled through the nozzle. By doing this the specific impulse (amount of force per kg of propellent) of the rocket increases dramatically,which directly results in lift of speeds which are out of reach today. Once the rocket is in its orbit it need not detach any of its parts because all of the propulsion system is inside the rocket but not outside of it. With such type of rocket we can do tremendous amount of deep space research,as we have almost unending amount of energy supply. As the energy can be regulated ( presuming that we have such technology..!! ) we can increase the rate of reaction of the fuel to increase the velocity of the rocket to unprecedented levels.
Although this idea has been researched this came through my intuition and reasoning. I don't know whether it is materialized or not but I want to be a part of it. To be a part of it first I must be an Aerospace engineer. Accomplish that task I chose Cornell. I chose it precisely because of its reputation as one of the nation's most premium universities and its vast research facilities and opportunities. I'm aware that Cornell has previously operated the mars rovers in partnership with cal tech by shifting the operation location between jet propulsion laboratory and Cornell space sciences building. I'm also aware that it also operates the gigantic Arecibo observatory in Puerto Rico. I know that apart from these Cornell has many other exciting resources and opportunities which can help me realize my dream. So I think in this way Cornell can give life to my ideas.
I have a thought which may seem a little weird but may come to reality. The Idea is,using nuclear fuel as a propellent for deep space rockets.
Up until now we were using liquid fuel propellents or solid fuel propellents or sometimes hybrid fuel propulsion systems where we have a little of liquid and a little of solid propellents. In such type of systems we have to use bulk quantity of the propellent of which all most all of the fuel is used up to give rocket enough escape velocity to escape the earth gravitational influence and enter the space. By the time the rocket enters space it already uses up its solid rocket boosters and its liquid oxygen fuel is then used for its orbital insertion. We may think that the rocket is running by 'Thrusting' itself against something. this may be partly true during the lift off part but for the remaining propulsion,the rocket uses the pressure of its gases in the combustion chamber against the nozzle's to move forward. Now with this type of propulsion system we can regulate our operations with in the earth's orbit and the shallow depths of space. We cannot go any where beyond that,but with the nuclear propulsion system we can reach speeds and distances beyond our imagination.
For nuclear propulsion to work we don't need separate boosters we just a combustion chamber inside the main rocket,where we can fit our proposed nuclear reactor. The reactor works just the same way as the conventional nuclear reactor,but the difference is all of the energy which is produced will be channeled through the nozzle. By doing this the specific impulse (amount of force per kg of propellent) of the rocket increases dramatically,which directly results in lift of speeds which are out of reach today. Once the rocket is in its orbit it need not detach any of its parts because all of the propulsion system is inside the rocket but not outside of it. With such type of rocket we can do tremendous amount of deep space research,as we have almost unending amount of energy supply. As the energy can be regulated ( presuming that we have such technology..!! ) we can increase the rate of reaction of the fuel to increase the velocity of the rocket to unprecedented levels.
Although this idea has been researched this came through my intuition and reasoning. I don't know whether it is materialized or not but I want to be a part of it. To be a part of it first I must be an Aerospace engineer. Accomplish that task I chose Cornell. I chose it precisely because of its reputation as one of the nation's most premium universities and its vast research facilities and opportunities. I'm aware that Cornell has previously operated the mars rovers in partnership with cal tech by shifting the operation location between jet propulsion laboratory and Cornell space sciences building. I'm also aware that it also operates the gigantic Arecibo observatory in Puerto Rico. I know that apart from these Cornell has many other exciting resources and opportunities which can help me realize my dream. So I think in this way Cornell can give life to my ideas.
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