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The propulsion technology for an interstellar mission is available today, there are proposals for probes powered by RTGs or even nuclear reactors and driven by
by HarryHirsch 7y ago
The propulsion technology for an interstellar mission is available today, there are proposals for probes powered by RTGs or even nuclear reactors and driven by ion engines. Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions that can be exploited for gravity assists happen every 20 years or so: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstellar_probe#Proposed_interstellar_probes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstellar_probe#Proposed_in...
It's entirely a political problem. There is no will to fund such a mission, and what's worse is that in the US funding is approved year by year.
- Jeff_Brown 7y agoIn nuclear engines the fuel and propellant is separate. I keep wondering how much gas a rocket needs to take with it in order to have something to push against. Nuclear fuel is incredibly energy-dense, but the density of the gas used for propulsion in a nuclear rocket can't be much different from what's used in conventional rockets.
- HarryHirsch 7y agoThe JIMO mission was supposed to have 12 tons of xenon on board, a substantial amount of the yearly production (~ 70 tons). You do wonder how Elon Musk's Starlink madness will affect the xenon price.
- tlb 7y agoThe StarLink satellites use krypton thrusters instead of xenon [0]. They need more electic power to run, but produce higher specific impulse [1]. And krypton is cheap. [0] https://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/starlink_press_kit.pdf https://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/starlink_press_kit... [1] http://ngpdlab.engin.umich.edu/electric-propulsion/krypton-HET http://ngpdlab.engin.umich.edu/electric-propulsion/krypton-H...