posted
Ion propulsion is nice, but it takes a really long time to accelerate, and at most its specific impulse is only about 10 times that of chemical propulsion. In other words, it will (eventually) go about 10 times faster than a chemical rocket with the same mass of fuel. Still won't get you up to a significant percentage of light speed. AFAIK, only two spacecraft have used ion propulsion as their main drive system - Deep Space 1 and SMART 1.
And Jason, after you develop your FTL drive and claim the planets, I'd like to see them try to come up there after you and *make* you pay taxes on them.
posted
They'll probably impose some sort of "return tax"...or a tax on oxygen.
In my city, a lobbiest recently summoned the mayor to cast a deciding vote on a bill in their favor. Believe me, the most creative fuckings anywhere are done right here in South Florida- they'd tax me on something.
I agree that Ion drive takes a looong time to cycle up, but if we'd only develop the technology a little... Imagine everyone today still driving Model A cars. That's where Ion Drive tech is, but NASA seems to think it's not a major field of research.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged
posted
What? The lack of real development on the Ion Drive idea? NASA had passed on funding it several times in the 80's, then they finally did the Deep Space 1 probe, the tech is actually proven, and (so far as I know) NASA has not taken up the cause since.
How can they really, with no budget (compared to the heyday of Regan-era funding)?
PBS had a good program on it about a year or two ago: mabye it's on NOVA's website...
I did find a cool site about the general tech though.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged
posted
Well, comparitivly. Currently we have Bush making grandiose proclimations that he knows will never happen. Everyone knows that's bullshit.
With Regan, you at least believed some of the lies (like SDI).
Besides, we got a lot from NASA in the 80's/early 90's (yeah, post-Regan, but still) that they'd never be able to do today.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged
posted
So, no cracks about how it was about as bad as the Goneril era, but things picked up during the Cordelia era?
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
YOU GET THE CROWN!
(Also, re: the fuel tank problem: there's "capable", and there's "capable", you know? Like, there's no law that says I am not capable of reaching .1c on my bicycle, only down-to-Earth concerns such as air and ground resistance, muscle cramp, and a general aversion to physical exercise. Yes.)
Registered: Nov 1999
| IP: Logged
Printer-friendly view of this topic
