MIT Plasma Thruster Program
MIT Plasma Thruster Program
Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.
Re: MIT Plasma Thruster Program
Ah yes, the helicon thruster. Shows up as a component of the VASIMR and Dr. Winglee's contraptions (M2P2, Magbeam, etc).
Nice ideas all, and IMO all irrelevant. Its those first 150kms that are killer. Beat those and you're halfway to anywhere.
Vae Victis
Depends on your definition of "best."Betruger wrote:I'm no specialist, but everything I've seen shows the VASIMR schemes as clearly the best for propulsion within the Mars/Jupiter asteroid belt, and easily the best for station keeping around any planet or satellite within the inner system.
Typical NASA/DoD "low mass, fast, and costs more than the GDP of China?"
Until you're in LEO its all vaporware. And even once in LEO, much cheaper and a bit slower has attractions.
Vae Victis
Re: MIT Plasma Thruster Program
KITE launchers of the world unite!djolds1 wrote: Nice ideas all, and IMO all irrelevant. Its those first 150kms that are killer. Beat those and you're halfway to anywhere.
Re: MIT Plasma Thruster Program
There are a number of options. Various air launch/cannon or ram accelerator/tether relays, The "Cheap & Stupid Engineering" philosophy of the Sea Dragon BDB, and of course a megascale structure for a national prestige project. Plenty of pathways if the will is there.KitemanSA wrote:KITE launchers of the world unite!djolds1 wrote: Nice ideas all, and IMO all irrelevant. Its those first 150kms that are killer. Beat those and you're halfway to anywhere.
Vae Victis
-
- Posts: 815
- Joined: Thu Nov 13, 2008 4:03 pm
- Location: UK
Re: MIT Plasma Thruster Program
SkyBase, anyone?KitemanSA wrote:KITE launchers of the world unite!djolds1 wrote: Nice ideas all, and IMO all irrelevant. Its those first 150kms that are killer. Beat those and you're halfway to anywhere.
Ars artis est celare artem.
VASIMR's big claim to fame is its ability to thrust/impulse throttle, which no other electric propulsion system can do. However, it is a bit of a power hog.Betruger wrote:I'm no specialist, but everything I've seen shows the VASIMR schemes as clearly the best for propulsion within the Mars/Jupiter asteroid belt, and easily the best for station keeping around any planet or satellite within the inner system.
Re: MIT Plasma Thruster Program
Obviously the poster is paid by the Kite Manufacturers Association of the United States. Probably a Kite lobbyist............KitemanSA wrote:KITE launchers of the world unite!djolds1 wrote: Nice ideas all, and IMO all irrelevant. Its those first 150kms that are killer. Beat those and you're halfway to anywhere.
I like the p-B11 resonance peak at 50 KV acceleration. In2 years we'll know.
Re: MIT Plasma Thruster Program
See endo-atmospheric tethers in the non-rocket spacelaunch page of wikipedia.Roger wrote:Obviously the poster is paid by the Kite Manufacturers Association of the United States. Probably a Kite lobbyist............KitemanSA wrote:KITE launchers of the world unite!djolds1 wrote: Nice ideas all, and IMO all irrelevant. Its those first 150kms that are killer. Beat those and you're halfway to anywhere.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-rocket_spacelaunch
Re: MIT Plasma Thruster Program
Ah, my very favorite launch technique, the ram accelerator. A fun variant is the laser launch tube. Maybe if the military ever gets those megawatt lasers right...KitemanSA wrote: There are a number of options. Various air launch/cannon or ram accelerator/tether relays, The "Cheap & Stupid Engineering" philosophy of the Sea Dragon BDB, and of course a megascale structure for a national prestige project. Plenty of pathways if the will is there.
Re: MIT Plasma Thruster Program
Please be careful who you quote. I didn't say that, Duane J. Oldsen did. Credit where credit is due, what?JohnSmith wrote:Ah, my very favorite launch technique, the ram accelerator. A fun variant is the laser launch tube. Maybe if the military ever gets those megawatt lasers right...KitemanSA wrote: There are a number of options. Various air launch/cannon or ram accelerator/tether relays, The "Cheap & Stupid Engineering" philosophy of the Sea Dragon BDB, and of course a megascale structure for a national prestige project. Plenty of pathways if the will is there.
Re: MIT Plasma Thruster Program
JohnSmith wrote:Ah, my very favorite launch technique, the ram accelerator. A fun variant is the laser launch tube. Maybe if the military ever gets those megawatt lasers right...
How about 1000km long?Aero wrote:I saw on TV that the Pumpkin launcher (tosser) record is over 4000 feet. If we could just ramp that technology up by a factor just over 5280 times, that would make a fun launch device. Its real simple tech, too! It just uses a very long tube and a lot of compressed air.
http://www.nas.nasa.gov/About/Education ... PBI110.HTM
http://www.islandone.org/LEOBiblio/SPBI110.HTM
Tho environmentalists would go into apoplectic conniptions at the thought.
I do like disposable one-shot ram accelerators for launching tethers for relays.
Vae Victis