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Water-Powered Spaceship Could Make Spaceflight Cheaper
- cal5k 16y agoHow does this compare in terms of thrust to, say, an ion engine?
- Symmetry 16y agoIt all depends on how much they're able to heat up the water with their solar panels, which is to say "who knows?"
- sorbus 16y agoSteam-propelled spacecraft. I fully approve. However, this would likely not be especially cost-effective if we have to pull all the water into orbit from earth; while the article mentions mining water from asteroids or moons, it puts that in a hypothetical future, even more so than using water as reaction mass, with refueling in low-Earth orbit proposed.
- ComputerGuru 16y agoAs soon as the next world war breaks out over water, I'm sure petroleum will once more be the cheaper alternative :) That, and no one will approve of shipping water (our only renewable resource FFS!!!) to outer space.
- redthrowaway 16y agoThis is a minor and nitpicky point, but that's not what Phobos looks like. It's oblong because its tidally locked, and it's long axis faces Mars, not the direction of its orbit. Also, that's a wee bit close. I demand accuracy in my sci fi watercolours.
- joeybaker 16y ago> "Water would be a big part of the space coach's body, too, according to the study. Packed along the habitat modules, it would provide good radiation shielding." erm… doesn't that mean that once you use the fuel (water), your radiation shielding is gone?