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To Mars and Back in Ninety Days
paltemalte writes "A new means of propelling spacecraft being developed at the University of Washington could dramatically cut the time needed for astronauts to travel to and from Mars and could make humans a permanent fixture in space. In fact, with magnetized-beam plasma propulsion, or mag-beam, quick trips to distant parts of the solar system could become routine, said Robert Winglee, a UW Earth and space sciences professor who is leading the project."
Hope they can slow it down when they get there.
/will probably make a small crater...
Check out my sysadmin blog!
You could build a rocket with a boiler that burned pieces of the ISS. At least *that* would be putting it to good use...
Oh! Sh!t we shoot the cabin insteed of the sail !
Ceci n'est pas une Signature !
That should be "at what Delta-V?" More Delta-V == faster.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
I poo-poo your silly idea Philleas Fog.. It's impossible and I'll wager my reputation that you won't make it from the Gentleman's Club in London to Mars and back within 90 days!
So, you mean that I could get something to and from Mars in under 90 days? That's better time than the US takes to process my tax return. I wonder when Mailboxes Etc will set up a PO Box service on mars? Could be a whole growth opportunity.
Or maybe I shouldn't post to slashdot before morning coffee.
Event Management Solutions : http://www.stonekeep.com/
You forgot the best:
Press 'H' to jump into hyperspace.
for 1 moment there an image of a callcenter full of indians located on the barren sands of mars crossed my mind...
People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
Whose first thought when they saw "magnetized-beam plasma propulsion, or mag-beam" was "I used that in TIE Fighter 10 years ago!"?
:/
Sadly, mine was.
Just send a diplomat to Mars, establish a trade agreement and an alliance with them and build a road.
Then we can quickly invade when they least expect it. When you play enough Rome Total War these things become soooo obvious.
Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
What truth?
There is no dupe
you're suggesting congress is being ran by Vulcans? Which is nowhere near as funny as actually being moderated interesting for it ;-)
People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
I'm sorry sir, but you must now relinquish your Slashdot UID and turn in your geek card. Someone will escort you to the exit.
...of erased magnetic media.
Err.. thanks, but could you include paragraph breaks next time? :)
The critical sentence:
Under the mag-beam concept, a space-based station would generate a stream of magnetized ions that would interact with a magnetic sail on a spacecraft and propel it through the solar system at high speeds that increase with the size of the plasma beam.
So this is a refinement of the laser/sail system proposed many years ago (and popularised by Niven & Pournelle's novel, The Mote in God's Eye).
An interesting idea, certainly.
You are in error. No-one is screaming. Thank you for your cooperation.
Well, we could always take up a collection to send choice politicians.... I think people would pay to send some of them places with little to no atmosphere.
Do not trust the pusher satellite. Pushing will protect you from the terrible secret of space. Do you have stairs at your house?
Stop learning! Only you can prevent esoterrorism.
Scientists have come up with a cheap and reusable method of getting to orbit and traveling about the cosmose. Utilizing the effect of slashdotting a website, we beam those hits against a reflective matterial on the space craft that will allow network packets to propell it in to orbit and beyond. To slow down a craft ariving at it's destination, a special set of mirrors will be setup to redirect traffic to the front of the ship where another reflector will slow down the craft...
~~ Behold the flying cow with a rail gun! ~~
What happens if you're jetting at 26,000 mph, and the braking system fails. You'll be doing a David Bowie - "Major Tom, it's been nice knowing you!"
Google news search for "mag-beam" returned http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/507649/ and http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/mag_beam_p ropulsion_system.html?14102004 with a sci-fi looking picture.
Froogle search for "mag-beam" did not match any products. :)
I imagine Gravity had a hand in it.
A trebuchet!
SYS 49152
3 moons?
when did they send Vanessa Feltz into orbit?
liqbase
Will they have big, yellow billboards along the way there?
That's not what I heard.
"I'm just here to regulate funkiness."
*Shakes fist* You win again, Gravity!
"Do you suppose that's why God lives in the Heavens? Because he lives in fear of His creations?" - Steve Buscemi
Oh SURE. Outsource that TOO.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one the bus load of girls just went down.
All you have to do is reroute power from the phaser bank to the deflector array.
Ah, but it makes for great concrete! Send a few Italians up there and the place will be covered in concrete so fast, you'll never have to worry about the regolith ever again!
PS: Appologies in advance for those that don't understand aussie humour....
Life is complete only for brief intervals in between toys or projects -- John Dalton
Yeah, I remember when that asshole Skylab used to post on slashdot- posts filled with drivel and racial attacks. Let this be a warning to everyone on slashdot- trolling & flamebait posts can kill your karma, and this bad karma can follow you offline as well.
You've been warned...
This planets got three moons,
So you were at that party too?
it's beneficial to get your ass as high as you can as fast as you can
This is also true when in a college dorm room.
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It takes baby steps to get to space.
First, lets figure out how to get people into orbit. Then, once we've accomplished that, we can start trying to figure out a way to get them back.
One step at a time, please.These comments do express the opinions of my employers, and, personally, I think they're complete rubbish.
... getting a fully functional industrialised moon base will make launches like this a thousand times more doable. ...
The problem here is that eventually the nuclear waste piles up, explodes, and sends the entire planetary body sailing across the universe--initiating cheesey adventures each week for those left alive...