Plasma Rocket Could Travel to Mars in 39 Days

Plasma Rocket Could Travel to Mars in 39 Days

... But Ad Astra has bigger plans for VASIMR, such as high-speed missions to Mars. A 10- to 20-megawatt VASIMR engine could propel human missions to Mars in just 39 days, whereas conventional rockets would take six months or more. The shorter the trip, the less time astronauts would be exposed to space radiation, which is a significant hurdle for Mars missions. VASIMR could also be adapted to handle the high payloads of robotic missions, though at slower speeds than lighter human missions.

Chang-Diaz has been working on the development of the VASIMR concept since 1979, before founding Ad Astra in 2005 to further develop the project. The technology uses radio waves to heat gases such as hydrogen, argon, and neon, creating hot plasma. Magnetic fields force the charged plasma out the back of the engine, producing thrust in the opposite direction. Due to the high velocity that this method achieves, less fuel is required than in conventional engines. In addition, VASIMR has no physical electrodes in contact with the plasma, prolonging the engine's lifetime and enabling a higher power density than in other designs.

Sources:
www.physorg.com...
english.ruvr.ru...
www.flightglobal.com...
www.insidecostarica.com...

We may see more manned missions in the near future? Hope everything goes well and we do get to see humans landing on mars within our lifetime. Tests will begin in around 2014 according to one of the sources.

reply to post by GoodLuckCharm


Wow, thats fast, that works out at, if mars it at it's closet of 36 million miles, at nearly 40,000 miles per hour, wouldn't fancy the speeding ticket.


And thats assuming launch would be at Mar's closest appproach, and, not accounting for gradual acceleration.

Originally posted by woogleuk
reply to post by GoodLuckCharm

 

Wow, thats fast, that works out at, if mars it at it's closet of 36 million miles, at nearly 40,000 miles per hour, wouldn't fancy the speeding ticket.


And thats assuming launch would be at Mar's closest appproach, and, not accounting for gradual acceleration.

edit on 4/10/10 by woogleuk because: (no reason given)

40,000 miles per hour?

Dang, does anyone know how to figure what kind of G's they would be pulling at that speed?

Could people even survive at that speed?

reply to post by amadeus30


I was just going to say... People wouldn't be able to survive that many G's! Don't forget they would be going non-stop for 39 days to reach destination Mars!

reply to post by amadeus30


Well, the astronauts on the ISS are cruising at an average speed of 17,000mph, and they do just fine.

Source

The only problems with G force would be with acceleration and decceleration, due to centripetal force.

I'm sure they have considered the potential effect it could have on astronauts, plus if any human is to travel in it, it will have to be tested, tested, and tested, oh and tested some more.

Plus humans aren't going to be going in it in the near future anyway, simple tests may (no guarantee) take place in 2014, I'm pretty sure there will be no human in it, they will probably use it to send robots first, and test its reliability and other aspects of its performance before even considering putting humans in there.

Also remember that it is not a new concept or idea, they have been developing if for years already, found this cool video:



Just enjoy the possibility's for now.

reply to post by amadeus30


G's are only experienced during acceleration. Any change in velocity. That means slowing down, speeding up or changing direction. Maintaining a constant velocity without turbulence will feel as though you're not moving at all.

reply to post by GoodLuckCharm


39 days?! Christ, with that technology applied properly, we could open the entire solar system up for human habitation!

It's simply amazing what us stupid little humans are capable of.... sometimes lol

reply to post by sirnex


Yeah, and just imagine if we spend on science what we have spent on the wars, by we I mean the west, (I live in England) but primarily America, as it has spent the most. We probably would have already have been to mars and come back, or at least be further along than we are now. *sigh*

Originally posted by GoodLuckCharm
reply to post by sirnex

 

Yeah, and just imagine if we spend on science what we have spent on the wars, by we I mean the west, (I live in England) but primarily America, as it has spent the most. We probably would have already have been to mars and come back, or at least be further along than we are now. *sigh*

True... It is a crying shame that we value killing each other more than we do advancing our species and planet. We have abundant resources and yet we fight over them as if there is not enough. It simply boils down to human greed, that is what is holding us back from expanding our population to the stars. We could build generational ships from hollowed out asteroids right now with current technology, but our greed of money stops us from such advancements.

We are a sad greedy race of beings. It is a real shame because we are capable of so many good and wondrous things. :/

So if this plasma rocket comes to fruition, how long before we are seeing things like starships a la the enterprise? I mean, i know it was based on a fictional piece by Gene Roddenberry (RIP) but if this is how far we can go in just a short 4 years (2014 i believe was what was stated as the start of the testing phase of this plasma rocket), then how much more advanced could we get? Just a little thought i had.

Does this mean we could travel to the moon in hours?

That would be pretty alright with me.

Originally posted by shaolin_dragon
So if this plasma rocket comes to fruition, how long before we are seeing things like starships a la the enterprise? I mean, i know it was based on a fictional piece by Gene Roddenberry (RIP) but if this is how far we can go in just a short 4 years (2014 i believe was what was stated as the start of the testing phase of this plasma rocket), then how much more advanced could we get? Just a little thought i had.

Honestly, it would be awhile....

We're still a young species and granted that we are an imaginative and inventive species, we are still grounded by the laws of physics and current knowledge of the universe. We don't really know how we got here, how the universe came to be or even what gravity (the most obvious force of nature) is...

We are no where close to making any short term jumps to other star systems. Certainly not our species from this planet... we're just too technologically young. I mean... We just got past steam powered mechanics not that long ago... certainly not ready for short term (fast) interstellar travel. lol

Originally posted by mistafaz
Does this mean we could travel to the moon in hours?

That would be pretty alright with me.

It does! Wouldn't it be amazing too?! We could have a full fledged moon colony/city/independent civilization!

reply to post by sirnex


It's seeming ever so slowly like Gliese 581g is becoming a vacation possibility. I can't wait.

Originally posted by mistafaz
reply to post by sirnex

 

It's seeming ever so slowly like Gliese 581g is becoming a vacation possibility. I can't wait.

Well... maybe not for you and I, but possibly for future generations in a generational ship lol

Of course, that's pending a breathable atmosphere for our species!

the vasimr takes quite a while to get up to speed, the reason it's such a viable thing is because of the fact there's no pesky gravity interfering with it in space .. so it can spew out this accelerated plasma and keep accelerating until it is eventually hitting an extremely high speed.. given the slow rate of acceleration, I'm not sure how much of a benefit it would be in speeding up a trip to the moon.. I've not read up much on that .. but it certainly would be a great way to save precious fuel .. fire the rockets to get moving and then kick on the plasma drive to maintain momentum ..

The thing I think about is this.. at that rate of speed, when will they have to start applying the proverbial "breaks" when approaching mars? .. I'm imagining they can probably fire conventional rockets to slow themselves.. I imagine they'd have to cut off the plasma drive and start slowing down well ahead of the arrival time or they'd risk over-shooting ..

Originally posted by amadeus30

Originally posted by woogleuk
reply to post by GoodLuckCharm

 

Wow, thats fast, that works out at, if mars it at it's closet of 36 million miles, at nearly 40,000 miles per hour, wouldn't fancy the speeding ticket.


And thats assuming launch would be at Mar's closest appproach, and, not accounting for gradual acceleration.

edit on 4/10/10 by woogleuk because: (no reason given)

40,000 miles per hour?

Dang, does anyone know how to figure what kind of G's they would be pulling at that speed?

Could people even survive at that speed?

Speed doesn't cause g forces. Acceleration does. And you could get to that speed (40,000mph) with a laid back 1 g (32'/sex./sec.) acceleration. 40,000 mph is about 11 million feet/hour or a touch over 3,000 feet/sec. So if you accelerate at 1 g for 97 seconds, you're at 40,000mph. And you would have traveled a little over 500 miles.

reply to post by miniatus


Slowing down in easy. You spin the ship with thrusters and use the same engine to slow you down.

The point about this tech is it needs a space fission reactor to generate the power necessary. If we are ever going to utilise VASMIR we need to develop that now. We also need a heavy lift chemical rocket big enough to heft a fission reactor into orbit.

NASA is considering this and Nuclear Thermal.

5 g's for about 4 minutes on acceleration and deceleration should do the trick.