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Re:The revolutionary ion engine that took spacecraft to Ceres by JoeAltmaier on Monday March 09, 2015 @12:38PM (#9171949)
Mention saving fuel as a cost saving. But the real issue is, what is the maximum mission delta-v? Fuel needs grow geometrically with needed acceleration over the mission. The ion engine can quadruple the mission possibilities or duration.
Re:The revolutionary ion engine that took spacecraft to Ceres by wyager on Monday March 09, 2015 @10:27PM (#9175636)
For those curious: Exhaust velocity is linearly related to impulse per fuel mass, so if you double the exhaust velocity, you double the engine's total impulse (force*burn time).