New Mars Forums

GCNRevenger

Member

From: Earth

Registered: 2003-10-14

Posts: 6,056

Re: How much would the first step cost? - Cheapest first step, what can we afford?

The problem with large clusters of ion engines to give you enough thrust for human missions is power supply, and you need a HUGE amount of power for the minimum amount of mass. That is, your energy source needs a very high specific power (amount of energy per time per mass), and right now no such power source exsists. Solar is nowhere near good enough, and nuclear reactors are too heavy.

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[i]"The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those that do not have it." - George Bernard Shaw[/i]

[i]The glass is at 50% of capacity[/i]

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,304

Re: How much would the first step cost? - Cheapest first step, what can we afford?

Topic shifting and artifacts are now fiexed.

While we did not come up with any items for this topic the space x and others seem to have done just that....maybe not at 2 million but its still a small amount as compared to Nasa's budget....