Title: The Way Spaceships Should Have Been Source:
[None] URL Source:[None] Published:Nov 15, 2010 Author:YouTube Post Date:2010-11-15 12:07:11 by Turtle Keywords:None Views:401 Comments:14
Wasn't one of the ships in Heinlein's novels powered this way? A Torch Ship? Can't remember.
A "Torch Ship" is a different mechanism. It is still a reaction drive i.e., relies upon mass ejected outward to propel the ship forward, but the basic idea is a superheated nozzle, with a fusion reactor, and then hydrogen (or water, or any other reaction mass) is injected into the supeheated nozzle where it reacts and is ejected out the "torch" as a high speed ejected plasma to propel the ship forward.
An ion drive is the same general idea but instead relies on ejecting a stream of energetic particles from the rear of the vessel. While prototypes have been built, and I think a couple of long range probes have used an ion drive, it is of limited utility because it just does not generate enough thrust. Even the most advanced designs are still well under a tenth of a "G" of acceleration. Older designs about 1/100th G.
Most all of the existing designs are some form of mass reaction drive that relies upon basically throwing stuff out the rear to propel the ship forward.
There have been rumors that at least partial anti-gravity has been achieved in the black budget world, and even hints that we are beyond that and actually have the technology already existing to build a starship, but that the spooks, who are chronically psychotic control freaks, have it bottled up under so many layers of security that it would take an atomic crowbar to break it free into the light of day.
An ion drive is the same general idea but instead relies on ejecting a stream of energetic particles from the rear of the vessel. While prototypes have been built, and I think a couple of long range probes have used an ion drive, it is of limited utility because it just does not generate enough thrust. Even the most advanced designs are still well under a tenth of a "G" of acceleration. Older designs about 1/100th G.
There was one probe I know of that used ion propulsion, and while the thrust is indeed very weak, the advantage is that the speed of the emitted ions is far greater than the speed of traditional liquid propellant upon burning, which makes ion thrust propulsion far more efficient than liquid fuel. (I.e. a pound of ion fuel can (when eventually expended) accelerate a space craft to a much higher speed than a pound of liquid fuel.
I'm sure you're probably aware of that OI, but thought I'd toss it out for others...