http://www.scienceagogo.com/message_board7/messages/747.shtml

Ok, this thread is ancient smile

Nevertheless I'd like your opinion on using Nuclear Pulse Propulsion for manned interstellar travel (not for reaching orbit).

Let's assume a 100 year one-way journey to Alpha-Centauri A/B at 4.4 ly.
So the average speed should be 4,4 % c.

Deceleration could possibly be done by using km-long theters to produce an electric/magnetic field with many kilometers in diameter, once inside the heliopause of the target star.

Which figures could we assume?
(For start lets just say smooth deceleration, over 0.5ly during 5 years)

Energy could be provided by current day fission or "possible near future" fusion generator.

The ship would be assembled in space, maybe in one of the lagrange points. Let's assume a ship mass of 10.000 - 50.000 metric tons, which is half the mass of a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier.

So: if the plasma debris of a thermo-nuclear-explosion has a velocity of 2*10^7 m/s (?) and 40% of the blast could be used for momentum change: would this be possible?

And is there any other technology which might be better suited for such missions? With higher exhaust velocities? Maybe LAPPS?