Lexington Project Report #175: Polonium-Powered Aircraft for Military Purposes

Technical Report · Tue Sep 28 04:00:00 EST 1948

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/969802· OSTI ID:969802

Kaufmann, A. R. ^[1]

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1. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)

Polonium power is probably adequate for propelling aircraft at high speed and with unlimited range. It appears to involve fewer engineering difficulties on the aircraft phase than does airborne-pile power, but it involves large ground installations and would be costly. A small polonium-powered reconnaissance and guidance plane might direct a number of one-way chemically fueled bomb carriers to the target. This might even make pile powered planes unnecessary. A 5,000 to 10,000-pound plane capable of carrying 1300 to 2700 pounds of equipment (radar, reconnaissance, or payload) might be powered with polonium at a probable cost of about 100 million dollars and the consumption of about 100 to 300 grams of uranium 235 per day. The use of polonium to propel a plane large enough to carry the bomb should he made the subject of an economic and military study.

• Research Organization: Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)
• OSTI ID: 969802
• Report Number(s): LP--175
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS
45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE