Nucular

Back when nuclear power was cool (30's - 70's), mankind dreamed up all sorts of nuclear powered spacecraft to get us to the stars. An example above - the nuclear reactor is in the central core, sending out thrust via the two lower engines.

But then Three Mile Island, and Chernobyl, and Love Canal, and the rise of a shortsighted environmental movement that would block solar panels in the desert because they threaten a seasonal moss, and we come to today, with the widespread vilification of all nuclear energy. Thus:

SCARY ATOMS!!! This is a redshirt original Photoshop, by the way. One of only a handful. You can tell by the high quality. I should learn Photoshop.

Nuclear power can be incredibly safe - far more than a coal plant, for example. And for propulsion in space? Can't be beat! Look at the Voyagers, who are on the verge of leaving the solar system on the backs of tiny nuclear power plants.

But we can't have a reasonable discussion about nuclear power at all, thanks to forces both on the Right and the Left. At least in America, this truly is a "Both sides do it" issue.

Don't fear the atom, man!

Creator the Destroyer

 The dissolving shell of an exploded star, out there in space far, far away. These expulsions of tremendous amounts of matter forms clouds which, if lucky, grow denser and denser and start spinning and, maybe one day, if it ate all its vegetables, this spinning leads to fusion, and the birth of another star, a heavier star.

A star is fusion. But contained fusion, due to the gravity pressing down on the enormous weight of the star - fusion + gravity = star. If we can re-produce this on glorious Earth, we will create Paradise, with endless and clean power. Star Trek, man.

What is fusion? The opposite of fission - which is the splitting of the atom, releasing energy. Fusion is the fusing of atoms, also releasing energy. Lots. The sunlight that warms your face is from fusion deep within our star, The Sun.

Stars are born from a compression of ginormous gas clouds, ignite a fusion cycle, and then burn through their fuel supply. The bigger stars will create elements all the way up to our old friend Iron (Fe). Iron is truly magic, for, among many other wonders, it spells the end of stars - if a star ever starts fusing Iron, it will die shortly, in a megahuge explosion called a Supernova, the remnants of which will push matter - Iron, Calcium, Gold, etc - throughout the local space.

The Cat's Eye Nebula, a nebula being the aftermath of a Supernova. And in these clouds resides the very material that made us up - literally, the iron in your blood was made in some star long ago that done exploded and showered the surrounding space with debris, some of which was iron, which collected due to gravity, eventually forming a planet, which after some time gave birth to you. The same with Carbon, Oxygen, Nitrogen, etc. Dig it? We are actually star children, and isn't that just a trip?

Here's some more star porn (click pic for big):

Pretty nifty, eh? This is our reality - we came from exploding stars just like these. And every atom in our body will one day return to a great spatial cloud. Isn't this all more wondrous than any mythology yet conceived on Earth?