Light propulsion is awesome! The only problem is that 3.3 nanonewtons per watt thrust limit. If that could be broken, the stars themselves would be ours. But so far, the best drive I've seen is the Vasimr... lots more thrust but not quite as much specific impulse. More speed, less range, so to speak. Easy interplanetary travel.
Could we adapt the Skyhook to send ships to Venus and Mars? So the Beanstalk is out of reach, for now. But if we build small spinning tethers with counterweights maybe we could do something like a gravity assist. Send a bunch of probes sunward, then a bunch starbound, to keep the energy balanced out?
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Date: 2007-09-15 04:34 am (UTC)Could we adapt the Skyhook to send ships to Venus and Mars? So the Beanstalk is out of reach, for now. But if we build small spinning tethers with counterweights maybe we could do something like a gravity assist. Send a bunch of probes sunward, then a bunch starbound, to keep the energy balanced out?