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PhysOrg.com) -- Last Wednesday, the Ad Astra Rocket Company tested what is currently the most powerful plasma rocket in the world. As the Webster, Texas, company announced, the VASIMR VX-200 engine ran at 201 kilowatts in a vacuum chamber, passing the 200-kilowatt mark for the first time. The test also marks the first time that a small-scale prototype of the company's VASIMR (Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket) rocket engine has been demonstrated at full power.
The use of hydrogen as the fuel for the VASIMR project has many side benefits. Because hydrogen is available anywhere in the solar system, a VASIMR-powered spacecraft could be launched with only enough fuel to get to its destination, such as Mars, and then pick up more hydrogen upon arrival to serve as fuel for the return trip home. Another benefit is that hydrogen is the best known radiation shield, so the fuel for the VASIMR engine could also be used to protect the crew from harmful effects of radiation exposure during the flight.
Originally posted by Dreamkidd
Great news but i dont believe we will succeed in our ventures to other planets until we learn to look after the one we have.
Sorry to get all ethereal in my view, im not taking anything away from this development in technology, just wanted to voice my heartfelt opinion.
Originally posted by Totalstranger
lets do it. I volunteer. Hopefully this wont be coopted by black ops and never heard about again. Then again, if their technology is supposedly 10 to 20 years ahead of what the public has, maybe they are already going there.
Originally posted by Dreamkidd
Great news but i dont believe we will succeed in our ventures to other planets until we learn to look after the one we have.
Sorry to get all ethereal in my view, im not taking anything away from this development in technology, just wanted to voice my heartfelt opinion.
Originally posted by ModernAcademia
Finallyyyyyyyyyy, enough of Mars already
let's see some ground images of Jupiter and Saturn now