He reviewed the equipment. They had tubes of rocket fuel, but the tubes
wouldn't give the powerful thrust needed for this job. They had one
atomic bomb. One wasn't enough. Not only must they drive toward the sun,
but also they must keep reserve power to blast free again. If only they
had a pair of nuclear charges!
He called his Planeteers together and outlined the problem. Perhaps
one of them would have an idea. But no useful suggestions were
forth-coming--until Dominico spoke up. "Sir, why don't we make two
bombs from one?"
"I wish we could," Rip said. "Do you know how?"
"No, Lieutenant. If we had parts, I could put bombs together. I can take
them apart, but I don't know how to make two out of one." The Italian
Planeteer looked accusingly at Rip. "I thought maybe you knew, sir."
Rip grunted. If they had parts, he could assemble nuclear bombs, too.
Part of his physics training had been concerned with fission and its
various applications. But no one had taught him how to make two bombs
out of one.
The theory behind this particular bomb design was simple. Two or more
correctly sized pieces of plutonium or uranium isotope, when brought
together, formed what was known as a critical mass, which would fission.
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