Thread: Inexpensive manned Solar system exploration

A fascination article.
I'm skeptical of McConnell's claim "that we could send a ship into a roundtrip mission to the Martian moon Phobos, ....for less than $1 billion," but the idea appears to have a lot of merit.

"Water-Powered Spaceship Could Make Mars Trip on the Cheap
Spaceships powered primarily by water could open up the solar system to exploration, making flights to Mars and other far-flung locales far cheaper, a recent study has found.

A journey to Mars and back in a water-fueled vehicle could cost as little as one space shuttle launch costs today, researchers said. And the idea is to keep these "space coaches" in orbit between trips, so their relative value would grow over time, as the vehicles reduce the need for expensive one-off missions that launch from Earth...."


http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/201103...triponthecheap

Originally Posted by Lynx_Fox

A fascination article.
I'm skeptical of McConnell's claim "that we could send a ship into a roundtrip mission to the Martian moon Phobos, ....for less than $1 billion," but the idea appears to have a lot of merit.

"Water-Powered Spaceship Could Make Mars Trip on the Cheap
Spaceships powered primarily by water could open up the solar system to exploration, making flights to Mars and other far-flung locales far cheaper, a recent study has found.

A journey to Mars and back in a water-fueled vehicle could cost as little as one space shuttle launch costs today, researchers said. And the idea is to keep these "space coaches" in orbit between trips, so their relative value would grow over time, as the vehicles reduce the need for expensive one-off missions that launch from Earth...."


http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/201103...triponthecheap

Solar thermal and electrothermal propulsion has been studied for some time. Arc jet engines have been in use for station keeping for years. The only thing different in the link is the use of water for the working fluid. Water is not a particularly good choice. Ammonia is commonly used. Hydrogen is also good, but much more difficult to package.

Typical thrust levels for this technology are on the order of a pound.

It sounds like amateurs are at it again.

I'm not sure they are talking about arcjet technology as much as Improved Microwave Electrothermal Thruster which seem to have performed well in some testing a couple years ago using water vapor.
http://www.wpafb.af.mil/news/story.a...ryID=123129612

And seems to continue to get some research attention:
http://sbir.nasa.gov/SBIR/abstracts/...nId=STTR_08_P1