... 32a. Solar Early Warning . Heavy elements such as the uranium used in generating nuclear power are extremely concentrated sources of energy. ... Space rockets require not just energy, but also mass , matter ejected backwards, of which nuclear fuel provides very little. ... One possible loophole remains. ... And yet... the "Orion" propulsion method could one day be the only practical way of protecting Earth from asteroid impact. ... Next Stop: #32 Far-out Pathways to Space: Solar Sails . ...

The SHARP cannon. Hydrogen is compressed . in the tube on top, the gun barrel is on bottom. ... Suppose the barrel of the cannon is a mile long ( @ 1600 meter) and the final velocity v , the one with which the shell emerges, is the escape velocity from the surface of the Earth . ... However, inert payloads (water, food, rocket fuel etc. ) could in principle be sent into space using a huge "super-cannon. ... Next Regular Stop: #31 Far-out Pathways to Space: Nuclear Power . ...

Titan . ... Hubble Space Telescope Images of Titan's surface . ... Later that year, it will release the European-built Huygens probe for a descent through Titan's atmosphere. ... This artist's rendering shows the European Space Agency's Huygens probe descending into the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan after being released by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. ... This artist's rendering shows the Huygens probe on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan after being released by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. ...

Cosmic Research, Vol. 42, No. 5, 2004, pp. 435­488. Translated from Kosmicheskie Issledovaniya, Vol. 42, No. 5, 2004, pp. 453­508. Original Russian Text Copyright © 2004 by Veselovsky, Panasyuk, Avdyushin, Bazilevskaya, Belov, Bogachev, Bogod, Bogomolov, Bothmer, Boyarchuk, Vashenyuk, Vlasov, Gnezdilov, Gorgutsa, Grechnev, Denisov, Dmitriev, Dryer, Yermolaev, Eroshenko, Zherebtsov, Zhitnik, Zhukov, Zastenker, Zelenyi, Zeldovich, Ivanov-Kholodnyi, Ignat'ev, Ishkov, Kolomiytsev, Krasheninnikov, Kudela,