Module 3A Travel and Tourism Dilithium crystals, warp speed, ion engines Science fiction has already solved the greatest space travel problem: propulsion Anyway, scientists think that current fuels are useless for real long distance space flights In the 1970s the mathematician Stanislav Ulam proposed the propulsion of spacecraft by means of nuclear explosions in space The British Interplanetary Society also proposed Project Dedalus: launching a probe propelled by means of internal thermonuclear microexplosions Other researchers focused their attention on solar wind They discovered that sunlight exerts pressure over objects Thus, the light photons would hit a Photocopiable © Ediciones Santillana S.A / Richmond 2011 Space travel solar sail (a highly powered reflecting mirror) and move the vehicle But these sails would have to be enormous: a km2 sail could only transport a kilo accelerating at 30 km/h! Now imagine a spaceship obtaining its fuel from its surrounding space like the one proposed by Robert Bussard in his Ramjet Project The ship catches hydrogen from the interstellar environment by means of a magnetic field and makes a nuclear fusion reactor run Or imagine a spaceship with an anti-matter engine If we clashed a kilo of matter and another kilo of anti-matter, we could get as much as 40 million tons of TNT: theoretically light-speed propulsion! Activities 1 Complete these sentences a Ramjet Project consists in b Project Dedalus was about c A spaceship with an anti-matter engine could d According to some researchers, solar wind English Toolkit - Technology Module 3A 2 Match parts of words and complete the sentences below e solar matter wind ship b space light c anti a light speed d nuclear a  is faster than the sound one b A can unleash enough radiation to kill life for thousands of years c A lot of energy could be freed if clashed matter against d The Enterprise is a in the Star Trek series e can power sails but at poor speed f Most earthly fauna and flora depends on 3 Look for information about space settlements Bring the material to class to discuss it Then, in groups of three or four people, choose one settlement and write a paragraph about it 4 Find words related to space and translate rocketslaunc hpeo pl e pa en ess at cecraftspplahntev mo o gi s ol hic l es ceship pa m placeprogra ychart m lax a t e a n r g a y l t re eve u ls op pr them into your language s amesolarsy temdescriptio ionn nb i 5 Work in groups to expand the information about Project Dedalus and write a paragraph These questions are given as a guide: When did the British Interplanetary Society carry out this project? What was the aim of the project? Was the spacecraft built? Why was this project important? English Toolkit - Technology Photocopiable © Ediciones Santillana S.A / Richmond 2011 explosion f sun