en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Daedalus
1 correction found
500 tonnes of scientific payload
Authoritative BIS/I4IS summaries describe Project Daedalus as carrying a 450-tonne scientific payload, not 500 tonnes.
Full reasoning
Multiple sources closely tied to the Project Daedalus legacy describe the original 1978 design as having a 450-tonne scientific payload.
- The Initiative for Interstellar Studies (which explicitly presents Project Daedalus as the BIS's 1978 design) says the spacecraft "would send a 450-tonne scientific payload on a flyby mission past Barnard's Star."
- Another I4IS page about the Daedalus model likewise states: "The payload was 450 tons in mass."
That makes the article's "500 tonnes of scientific payload" figure inconsistent with authoritative summaries of the design. It is also inconsistent with the same article's later specifications table, which lists "Payload mass: 450 tonnes."
2 sources
- Reaching the Stars in a Century using Fusion Propulsion
Project Daedalus ... was a 1978 design ... that would send a 450-tonne scientific payload on a flyby mission past Barnard’s Star.
- Terry Regan
Daedalus was a theoretical starship ... The payload was 450 tons in mass and the vehicle carried 50,000 tons of Deuterium and Helium-3 fuel.