• emmanuel_car@k.fe.derate.me
    3 hours

    Interesting read, this part caught my eye:

    Launching a crewed spacecraft to Mars might require 2 to 4 megawatts of power, meaning multiple MPD thrusters operating for more than 23,000 hours. This presents a challenge as the hardware operates at high temperatures, and the team needs to prove that the thruster’s components can withstand the heat for multiple hours during upcoming tests.

    Would the thrusters really run the full 23k hours? That’s just shy of 960 days, surely once you reach a certain speed you wouldn’t need to run them continuously at full power.

  • MonkderVierte@lemmy.zipEnglish
    2 hours

    What was it again? 1 Watt is ~= lifting a 100g schoko 1 meter (ignoring inefficiencies in muscles). Did i get the unit right?

  • MonkderVierte@lemmy.zipEnglish
    2 hours

    Launching a crewed spacecraft to Mars might require 2 to 4 megawatts of power, meaning multiple MPD thrusters operating for more than 23,000 hours.

    Btw, what happened with the VASIMIR engine after the ISS tests in 2011ish? I think i’ve read that it could do the whole trip in 5 months (high-impulse insertion burns, high-speed & low-impulse travel). Somewhere on the shelves? Too high power draw?

  • toiletobserver@lemmy.worldEnglish
    15 hours

    Did they decide if this type of thrust is actually possible and not just a poorly designed experiment?

    Edit, nevermind, this isn’t the microwave thing

    • angband@lemmy.worldEnglish
      15 hours

      The em drive is what you’re thinking of, this is something different. That thing dropped off the radar a long time ago.

      • chocrates@piefed.worldEnglish
        12 hours

        There is a new one in the works, but forget what it is called.

        I want it to exist so bad.

        Edit:

        Charles Buhler’s work. Dunno if it has a name