posted on Apr, 24 2005 @ 03:12 PM
Ther are 2 proposed methods of EM propulsion I know :
a/ to the orbit - giant EM gun/railgun able to shoot the unmanned ships and cargo to the orbit (manned cannot be used, because the people are not able
to sustain so high Gs) - moon railgun is more likely, because you don't need so much power(1/6 gravity and no atmosphere) It is estimated you will
need the power of 60 powerplants and at least 10km long EM accelerator to shoot the cargo from the Earth surface to the space (with todays tech).
a/ EM propelled spaceship - I have read about it in one book. It could be used to "hunt" down asteroids (for minerals) - it should be a huge ship
with small mining factory and long EM accelerator. The factory extract the metal and magnetic materials from asteroid and shoots them to the space to
gain speed. App half of the 100m diameter asteroid would be used to move the "rock" from asteroid field (between Jupiter and Mars) to the
Earth/Moon orbit. It would be good for the month colonies, because the moon lacks some materials (nitrogen, hydrogen, carbon) which can be found on
asteroids.
[edit on 24-4-2005 by longbow]