Sir-Realz t1_ja93jb8 wrote
Might be possible, but the thrust would have to be extremely weak and long im not aware of any rocket engine that has bruned that long say arohnd 20hours and would take years, to reach Mars probably unmanned and of corse its old and unreliable but plasable. The moon might be a better destination. That could probabaly be manned.
-Major-Arcana- OP t1_ja95wn6 wrote
Don’t ion thrusters deliver weak but long thrust?
Dr_Catfish t1_ja96v23 wrote
Ion thrusters exist, sure, but their thrust is so minimal I doubt you'd be able to overcome Earth's gravity in any reasonable time, if at all.
Sir-Realz t1_ja99bvf wrote
I would propose hyperbolic booster fired in stages and then a fission thruster to do the heavy lifting once the station was a comfortable distance from earth for the radioactive exhaust not to radiate the entire planet. Ion may have a future but would probably require a fission reactor to power it anyway. but I don't think they have even tested them in space yet. One was supposed to ride on the artimis launch but failed.
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