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Tuesday October 20, 2009
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Hold onto your phasers: a new rocket, designed jointly by NASA, Ad Astra, and Canadian firm Nautel, could potentially slash trip times to Mars to as little as 39 days. And yep, it uses ion propulsion--just like Star Trek taught us.
Ion propulsion, via the new plasma-based VASIMR (Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket) engine, is now close to the point where it could be tested on a flight to the moon, according to Canada.com. The rocket works by turning electrical power into thrust in order to harness solar energy.
The 39 day time compares to six months using current rocket technology. Actually, a round-trip ticket to Mars would take far longer than even six months. Since Mars and Earth only pass close to each other every two years, engineers assume a crew would go one way, wait a year, and then fly back the next time the planets passed each other by, according to the report.
The ion drive would enable astronauts to shoot there and back during a single close approach. (Image credit: Ad Astra) (Via Slashdot)
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October 20, 2009 7:03 PM
Very cool - it's about time we made some headway on new propulsion technologies, especially once you're space-borne and you don't have to worry about drag and resistance effects. Since you don't have to worry about gradual slowdown in space (yay inertia!) for the most part, engine systems like this can get you going pretty fast, given you have the time and distance to speed up!