Have there been any plans to use fissionables as a power source for helicopters in a military role? What would some of the envisioned difficulties and missions of such a vehicle? I imagine long endurance might be one advantage this vehicle would have over a conventional chopper.
2
-
1$\begingroup$ VTC Not about worldbuilding (and other reasons). Please note that SE's model is one-specific-question/one best-answer. The history question would be better asked on History. The second question could be asked on History or, perhaps, Aviation. Neither question appears to have anything to do with building a fictional world of your own creation. Finally, our help center recommends you avoid asking questions where "your answer is provided along with the question, and you expect more answers." $\endgroup$– JBHCommented Aug 23, 2020 at 16:45
-
$\begingroup$ Note to those who would reopen this (kind of) query: please make very sure that there is an actual worldbuilding problem to be solved. This is a question of idle curiosity about military vehicles. $\endgroup$– elemtilasCommented Aug 23, 2020 at 18:02
Add a comment
|
1 Answer
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
4
This isn't really a worldbuidling question, but to give a quick answer: No.
The weight of the:
- Shielding required to avoid irradiating the crew / passengers.
- Mechanism to transfer heat from the reactor into rotational energy (Eg - a steam turbine.)
- Shielding to stop a single part failure from irradiating the landscape.
would be prohibitive.
Basically everything on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear-powered_aircraft applies even more so to helicopters.
The "nuclear powered bomber project" from the cold war also had to decide to go in one of two directions:
- A simple, low weight design, in which a single failure would irradiate the entire landscape. Or
- A more complex design that wouldn't leak radiation from a single point of failure, but was lower power and heavier.
The simple design gave promising thrust in the lab, but the complex design wasn't able to give enough thrust to carry its own weight. Ultimately the project was shelved due to cruise missile improvements - there was no longer a need to keep an aircraft airborne for months at a time.
-
1$\begingroup$ My understanding is that, after the US government decided it was a dead-end, they convinced the Soviets that it was a viable project, and the Soviets announced plans to try building one to stay competitive. I can't vouch for the facts, sorry. Aren't cold-war politics grand? $\endgroup$– DWKrausCommented Aug 23, 2020 at 15:22
-
$\begingroup$ @DWKraus Actually I think it was the other way around. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/… $\endgroup$– AshCommented Aug 23, 2020 at 15:23
-
$\begingroup$ Answer well-asked questions. And starting the answer with "this is not really a world building question..." kind of proves this is not a well asked question. $\endgroup$– L.Dutch ♦Commented Aug 23, 2020 at 16:46
-
$\begingroup$ -1 for not only answering an off topic query, but admitting as much in your answer. Please DO NOT ANSWER bad questions until they get fixed! If you want to answer this kind of question, fix the question first! $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 23, 2020 at 18:04