Environment & Energy
In reply to the discussion: Is emission-less propulsion possible? I believe it is... [View all]mikelewis
(4,184 posts)The problem is the mass... it'll take so long to acquire any speed... that's probably why this hasn't taken off. Looks like they know about pulse propulsion... just not how to use it effectively. Interesting. The best use for this would be in long haul applications where traditional thrust runs out... you can use momentum to continue accelerating... With that unit... you'd still need to do a pretty hard burn to get your velocity up but then the impulsed derived v would keep increasing (albeit very slowly... it would be like continuously slow farting through space)... but it would probably cut your time to Saturn way down.
Same thing with the other unit you showed by the way... it can move itself pretty fast, I imagine but I doubt it's moving much of anything else any time soon... you can actually do this with photons but it would take soooooo looooonnnngggg to do anything with much mass... at least right now...