Interstellar Engine Idea

Interstellar Engine Idea
By: P. Gordon Kennedy
Copyright 2009

A significantly large flywheel spun up to a sufficiently high rate of rotation could in principle provide the power source for an interplanetary or interstellar rocket. The flywheel system could use magnetic bearings and since space is a vacuum, there would be very, very little friction. The flywheel would turn an impeller that would force a compressed gas or liquid stored in a tank out a nozzle. Because for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, the action of expelling the liquid or gas out the nozzle at the back of the rocket causes the rocket to accelerate forward. A magnetic clutch would need to be used so the impeller could be disengaged from the flywheel while it is being spun up to speed and so the spaceship’s crew can have the ability to turn the engine off. A magnetic clutch would be necessary because the tremendous force of rotation the flywheel must nave for interstellar travel would be too strong for any mechanical system and magnetic systems eliminate friction and energy waste inherent in mechanical systems.

Not sure I get it, Gordon. If the gas or liquid is already compressed,
why have the impeller? And wht happens when the gas is gone? What
method of re-fueling is used?

I like the thinking, just can't quite get it to resonate...

First, if a liquid were used as the material to be ejected, there could be no compression because one cannot compress a liquid (that's why hydraulic jacks work). The purpose of compressing a gas, if it were used would be simply so the ship could carry more of it. It isn't entirely right to think of the material being ejected as a fuel, as it does not serve as an energy source, but rather as a medium for transfering the rotational energy of the flywheel into the forward acceleration of the rocket via the principle that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The energy of the rocket comes from the rotational energy of the flywheel, which has to be spun up to speed before the rocket takes off, this would be accomplished by some kind of motor or engine at the launch station. This kind of rocket is not designed to be launched from earth's surface, but rather from some point in space. When the gas or liquid runs out or when the flywheel runs down, as it eventually will, the rocket simply stops accelerating and continues at a constant speed in a constant direction (an object in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted on by a force). If the rocket is to return to its starting point, the amount of gas or liquid and the needed rotation rate for the flywheel as well as when to disengage/reengage the impeller would have to be carefully calculated.