3 ms·
The asteroid is the reaction mass. Send a solar collector and a rail gun sled that fires bits of asteroid really fast backwards.
by lxmorj 6y ago
The asteroid is the reaction mass. Send a solar collector and a rail gun sled that fires bits of asteroid really fast backwards.
- rtkwe 6y agoThat's a massively complicated endeavor and would require a lot of knowledge we don't have at the moment principally zero G mining and remote robotic assembly (time lags will mean it'll have to be very automated).
- gpm 6y agoAnd reliable railguns.
- Aeolun 6y agoThat sounds like experience we’ll never get if we do not even make the attempt.
- rtkwe 6y agoEventually, it's not the first step you take though.
- mLuby 6y agoForget railguns; an automated burger flipper could launch chunks of rock at escape velocity.
- rtkwe 6y agoThe faster you can accelerate them the more dV you get out of each chunk so you want to get them moving as fast as possible. If you're barely tossing them off the asteroid you might need to throw away a majority of the asteroid's mass to move it into Earth's orbit.
- monadic5 6y agoFound the person who read the mars trilogy