[ExI] specific thrust

[Eugen Leitl]

On Fri, Dec 10, 2010 at 10:57:35PM -0800, Adrian Tymes wrote:

> IIRC, the main problem was a heavy power source - and there's been much
> research since then into lighter weight power sources.  So I wonder if it would

About the lightest power source is an almost unshielded reactor
running at close to self-destruction temperature. That is a nasty,
nasty thing.

> be possible, using today's technology, to build an ion engine that could
> deliver 1G+ of thrust - again, including something to power said ion engine for
> about 10 minutes.

You realize that ion engines don't work much below 100 km? 

-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
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