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Re:Vertically aligned carbon nanotubes triple the density of... by dTal on Wednesday October 07, 2020 @08:25AM (#24707478)
What exactly is an "electric rocket"?
Re:Vertically aligned carbon nanotubes triple the density of... by rocqua on Wednesday October 07, 2020 @10:09AM (#24708369)
Rockets that use electrical pumps for the fuel and oxygen pumps. Usually rocket engines use some of the fuel and oxygen to run these pumps, which makes them a lot more complicated.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_(rocket) Is the big player in the field afaik.

Re:Vertically aligned carbon nanotubes triple the density of... by MertsA on Wednesday October 07, 2020 @08:37AM (#24707554)
Magic? Non-satirical response, there's companies like Rocket Lab that make electrically powered turbopumps to simplify their rocket engines but that comes with very steep power requirements. The Electron rocket literally has lithium ion packs that drop away from the rocket as they are depleted and the weight of those packs really starts to add up because those turbopumps use absolutely insane amounts of power to keep up with the pressure and fuel flow requirements of the engine.
Re:Vertically aligned carbon nanotubes triple the density of... by de_watcher on Wednesday October 07, 2020 @08:42AM (#24707586)
Not counting turbopumps for chemical engines there is also an electric propulsion when in space.
Re:Vertically aligned carbon nanotubes triple the density of... by ben-schaaf on Wednesday October 07, 2020 @10:27AM (#24708570)
To expand on this there's these things called ion thrusters that use an electrically generated magnetic field to accelerate gas particles at extremely high velocities out the spacecraft thereby generating thrust. These are stupidly efficient but also very low thrust. Due to the high power usage I don't see much of an application for even incredibly dense batteries as you still need a sufficiently large power source anyway - though I'm no rocket scientist.
Re:Vertically aligned carbon nanotubes triple the density of... by Qwertious on Wednesday October 07, 2020 @08:36AM (#24707549)
Presumably a rocket with a power source separated from its exhaust, and that flings its exhaust material out with an electrically-powered device.

So basically think of a 'reverse railgun'.

Re:Vertically aligned carbon nanotubes triple the density of... by rocqua on Wednesday October 07, 2020 @10:10AM (#24708381)
I was thinking of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_(rocket) Which uses electric power to pump the fuel and oxygen into the nozzle.
Re:Vertically aligned carbon nanotubes triple the density of... by HeadsUpHigh on Wednesday October 07, 2020 @03:10PM (#24711551)
That's an ion thruster. They've been around for a while.
Re:Vertically aligned carbon nanotubes triple the density of... by ben-schaaf on Wednesday October 07, 2020 @10:30AM (#24708599)
Every railgun is a thruster - or gun for that matter: https://what-if.xkcd.com/21/