Real nuclear power spacecraft either use so little
power that they do not
need radiators or they have
radiators. This is not a real space
ship.
This starship Enterprise does not have
a 5GW radiator in the
design or thermal insulation
to keep the habitable section cool. According to
the
notes, it uses waste heat from the reactors to keep
the saucer section
warm!
The energy required for keeping a crew of 1000
humans alive is
plenty for keeping the saucer sector
warm. The problem would be cooling it down
- especially
if someone fires 100MW laser for 60 seconds (as mentioned
in the
spec). 20% efficiency is impressive for a modern
laser, so there is 400MW of
extra heat to deal with.
A nuclear powered ion drive spaceship capable of
a return trip to Mars is possible. Adding a small human
crew that are expected
to survive the trip makes the
challenge much more difficult. Trying to make it
look
like the Enterprise is just silly.
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