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What about the VASIMIR? A prototype has been tested in a vacuum chamber and it seems to work just fine. It seems that this is the way to go for near term propulsion if we are to travel to Mars and other planets in a reasonable time. As for Orion, I don't see how anyone is going to get their hands on the hundreds of nuclear weapons that would be required for its operation. If I'm missing something about any of this I would welcome enlightenment!
Charles
I found the following article on the technological requirements for a manned Mars mission in the Electronic Engineering Times:
http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/show … ...9906000 (Failure is not an option, but plan for it anyway)
http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/show … ...9906191 (Road to Mars )
http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/show … ...9906178 (On Mars, 'modularity' has multiple meanings)
I encourge everyone to read these and comment on them!
Charles