The Medusa Starship Drive

The Medusa Drive is a pulsed nuclear alternative to the classic Orion Drive.

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[deathsinger]

with all the radiation before you, you seal everything and only look back, never at the ships head, very fitting name for the drive

[gusty]

it feels like a scifi version of a cartoon gag where characters sail a boat by blowing at the sails

[Big_Not_Good]

I still like the Isaac Asimov idea of having a large cone of ice in front of your ship as protection from cosmic dust and debris.

[Russo-Delenda-Est]

Could you place 3 of them, offset on pylons around the front of the ship? That would allow you to focus the radiation away from the ship in the center and have you the ability to "steer" by adjusting the strength of the blasts to one of the 3 different sails.

[Aengus]

Hey mate! I used to watch your very early stuff and I wrote asking about your accent & you explained that it wasn't an accent, it was just how you spoke. You even had to have explainers for people.
This is the first time I've seen one of your videos in a long time & your intelligibility is at least 98% improved!
I'm really happy for you! It must've taken some guts to start your channel! Do you think it's making content regularly that helped?
It's 06:22 here in the UK and you've got me smiling already. You've quite made my day!
Nice one! Really pleased for you.
Just had to point out that I noticed because when people comment on how good I can walk on two prosthetics it gives me a glow inside.
Well done my friend! 💜☮️

[LarryPhischman]

The best version of a nuclear pulse rocket is probably an internal detonation model. You detonate the charges inside cavity about a kilometer across, and use magnetic field to guide the plasma out of the back of the rocket. The few extant concepts for an internal detonation nuclear pulse rocket use spherical detonation chambers, but an ice cream cone shape would be better. With the pointy end at the rear and a parabolic dome in front, the walls of the chamber would reflect and focus the shock wave out of the pointy end like a shaped charge.

[crispico]

I once saw a design for a pusher-style light sail

[ravenlord]

Will Downing's brain has entered the chat . . .

[TimeSurfer]

Welcome back, Isaac!
I've missed you, and I like your new voice.

[doltsbane]

Nick Stevens has a beautiful rendering of a Medusa Drive ship in flight over on his channel. Lots of other interesting stuff too. I particularly like his depiction of Ernst Stulinger's Umbrella Ion Drive ship, as seen in the Mars expedition video Werner von Braun did for Disney back in the Fifties.

[JoseTorres-ryqe]

Youd think with tech that advanced that the sail would be able to repair itself, not unlike say, Roman concrete.

[antontaranenko]

But the biggest problem of this design is the material used for sail tethers, it has to be not only huge tensile strength, but also withstand nuclear blasts and radiation in close proximity... Which I think even nanotubes fiber can not achieve😊😊😊

[boogeyman]

I saw this in Three Body problem show 😅.

[Tonydjjokerit]

DEEP RESPECT Issac but I have reservations about it!

[archysimpson]

1600 sailing using the stars for navigation.
16000 sailing through the stars for innovation.

[RViceful]

Oof, love you and your channel Isaac, YouTube Shorts seem to attract the wrong crowd (based on most of the other comments).

[maxluthor]

You're still flying through the radiation you just created right in front of your path...

[TheFakeGooberGoblin]

This is the high-tech equivalent of a skateboard with a leaf blower blowing an umbrella to go forward💀

[godforge]

I don't understand how the explosions wouldn't damage the tethers? I was thinking, while I was watching three body problems boy that looks like a dumb design. The bombs are gonna damage the tethers, and then one of the tethers broke in the show and I said, I'm surprised they didn't think of that beforehand. I give points to the show for actually having it failed because it seemed obvious that it would.

[yellowrose]

Wait... it pulls you *through* the fallout and "this permits you to use *less* radiation shielding"?!