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Please inform the rest of us, the unwashed plebs, exactly what technology exists to get us off this rock to the moom that isnt chemistry based and can be used i
by tekla 4y ago
Please inform the rest of us, the unwashed plebs, exactly what technology exists to get us off this rock to the moom that isnt chemistry based and can be used in the next 20 years
- verdverm 4y agoPerhaps a space elevator if we put in the effort
- startupsfail 4y agoWhat happened to ground based laser propulsion? Where you heat up the propellant with a ground based laser during takeoff and then use the same laser source to power your ship is space? I remember a few videos of launching small rockets with a ground based laser from some twenty years ago. Haven’t laser technology improved since?
- taylorportman 4y agoA plasma jet powered by fusion?
- ianburrell 4y agoNone of the proposed fusion reactors are suitable for getting off the planet. They will be too heavy. And won’t produce plasma jets. Fission reactors have the same problem. It is possible to use them in space but not to get into space.
- startupsfail 4y agoPFRC2? There’ve been some attempts to build an atomic aircraft, decades ago. Haven’t technology of compact reactors improved since?
- ianburrell 4y agoAll the recent work on compact reactors has been on modular ones that don’t care about weight. I think there have been studies about nuclear rockets but no active development programs. Fission rockets are useless for launching to space because the thrust is too low, or the weight is too high. They could be useful in space because their higher exhaust velocity. But high exhaust velocity means low thrust.