08 05 technology u3a

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 1 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
1Complete these sentences.
aRamjet Project consists in

b Project Dedalus was about

cA spaceship with an anti-matter engine could

d According to some researchers, solar wind

English Toolkit 1 - Technology

.
.
.
.


Module

3A

2Match 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.
cA 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
.

3Look 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.

4Find 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
tp re

eve

u ls

op
pr

them into your language.

s
amesolarsy temdescriptio
ionn
nb
i

5Work 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 1 - Technology

.

Photocopiable © Ediciones Santillana S.A. / Richmond 2011

explosion

f sun