Subject:
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Re: Transit Time to Mars
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.geek
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Date:
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Thu, 16 Dec 1999 00:48:20 GMT
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Viewed:
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196 times
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On Wed, 15 Dec 1999 22:23:47 GMT, "Todd Lehman" <lehman@javanet.com>
wrote:
> Hmm, what about small unmanned craft for overnight package delivery? (FedEx
> in Space ;-) How much fuel is in one of those space shuttle booster rockets
> and how much of that is wasted getting to escape velocity? I bet if a small
Don't forget that the space shuttle accelerates with only a few g
relative to earth, so that's (a few + 1) when applied in space. And as
someone mentioned, unless you have manufacturing in space, or very
cheap earth -> LEO methods (which is seeing some interesting research,
but none economically viable. Yet.)...
> rocket were launched from a space station with beaucoup solid fuel engines,
> it could easily burn for half a day and maybe even at 10G with a light
> payload.
You could get a Shuttle solid booster to burn for half a day,
probably, by simply reducing the fuel outlet size. Whether it would
reach 10G even under just its own weight, I don't know, though. Half a
day as opposed to thirty seconds or so, means 1/500th to 1/1000th the
force applied.
>
> The other neat thing about unmanned craft is that as the fuel is burned up,
> the ship will accelerate more and more easier since its mass is less and
> less.
They do that with the Shuttle and Ariane etc as well. It also includes
extra benefits from throwing off old fuel tanks. It still doesn't get
them very far..
Jasper
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Transit Time to Mars
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| (...) Hmm, what about small unmanned craft for overnight package delivery? (FedEx in Space ;-) How much fuel is in one of those space shuttle booster rockets and how much of that is wasted getting to escape velocity? I bet if a small rocket were (...) (25 years ago, 15-Dec-99, to lugnet.off-topic.geek)
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