Re:Mars as a refueling station ?
on
Lots of Ice On Mars
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· Score: 3, Interesting
Oxygen is a actually a rather good propellant too, _if_ you use nuclear propulsion, which is the only sensible propulsion system for human spaceflight anyway. The NERVA rocket prototyped in the 1960s would have had enough power to propel a spaceship to mars in a matter of _weeks_, not years. And the propellent is disjunct from the energy-source in this design, so you can use whatever you happen to find.
So, cudos for NASA to resume research in this directions, and */flame Eat flaming death, No-Nukes_In_Space-Activists! */flame
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The VASIMIR has been in developement since 1979.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_specific_impulse_magnetoplasma_rocket
I wonder where they will get the 200 kW to drive it from?
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http://borislegradic.blogspot.com/
Oxygen is a actually a rather good propellant too, _if_ you use nuclear propulsion, which is the only sensible propulsion system for human spaceflight anyway.
The NERVA rocket prototyped in the 1960s would have had enough power to propel a spaceship to mars in a matter of _weeks_, not years.
And the propellent is disjunct from the energy-source in this design, so you can use whatever you happen to find.
So, cudos for NASA to resume research in this directions, and
*/flame
Eat flaming death, No-Nukes_In_Space-Activists!
*/flame