News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on The Plasma Magnet Drive: A Simple, Cheap Drive for the Solar System and Beyond.

Re:The Plasma Magnet Drive: A Simple, Cheap Drive for the So... by btilly on Wednesday January 10, 2018 @12:48PM (#16117096)
Not changing your angular momentum around the Sun limits the usefulness of this drive by a lot. Sure, you can change the shape of the ellipse that you travel. But anything that you encounter far away from the Sun will be going very fast compared to you, and you'll go very fast compared to anything that you encounter near the Sun, making actual visits very unwise.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Plasma Magnet Drive: A Simple, Cheap Drive for the So... by ethbro on Wednesday January 10, 2018 @02:06PM (#16117851)
As an interstellar carrier it's perfect though.

Boost a limited-duration (aka small mass) craft at unsustainable acceleration to dock with an interstellar transiting ship, then detach and decelerate on the other end.

All the while you're able to continue increasing the interstellar ship's velocity. Limited only by the max velocity you can feasibly intercept.

By being propellantless, it essentially takes mass considerations out of the interstellar transit system (given enough time).

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Plasma Magnet Drive: A Simple, Cheap Drive for the So... by mLuby on Wednesday January 10, 2018 @02:17PM (#16117963)
As I understand figure 5, an array of theses devices should allow momentum changes.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Plasma Magnet Drive: A Simple, Cheap Drive for the So... by QAPereo on Wednesday January 10, 2018 @02:13PM (#16117923)
This would definitely be more useful for one-way probes, or as a drive mode for some far-future generational voyage. Maybe this could even be combined with some form of charged particle collection as well, a low-grade ramscoop.
[ Parent | on HN ]