16 ms·
You have left out the part about the vast distances we still need to cover. Accelerating mass could very well be cheap enough, but HOW fast we can accelerate to
by throbaway339 10y ago
You have left out the part about the vast distances we still need to cover. Accelerating mass could very well be cheap enough, but HOW fast we can accelerate to still matters.
Perhaps they're on the other side of the galaxy, or in a different galaxy altogether and the EmDrive will only ever reach top speeds near that of a Ford Pinto.
- bertiewhykovich 10y agoI believe that if the EmDrive produces real force its top speeds are, in a vacuum, only limited by relativity and the amount of energy it can carry.
- grzm 10y agoThat's true of any propulsion system, isn't it?
- bertiewhykovich 10y agoyeah
- evgen 10y agoNo, most other systems run out of reaction mass first. With this and a good fission reactor you are halfway to everywhere.
- grzm 10y agoSo I don't get any points for E = mc² ? :) In all seriousness though, I was noting the parallel "limited by … the amount of energy it can carry" and "limited by the amount of mass it can carry" in the sense that, yeah, you're going to be limited by what you can take with you.
- hossbeast 10y agoNo, real propulsion systems also require propellent