Propulsion for Mars? All about Vasimr

After reading and reading and reasearching. It seems to me that the Vasimr propulsion is probably the best bet for us to work on to get us in full swing of exploring our solar system. with Mars as our first stop..

Here are some links to this tech. I am looking for any information regarding weather this is still being researched, since nasa cut the Propulsion Breakthrough program in 03. If anyone has any information this please post it.

dma.ing.uniroma1.it...
www.nasatech.com...
liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov...
science.howstuffworks.com...
www.nasa.gov...

"Trimming travel time between Earth and various space targets is crucial to keeping human and robotic surveys of the solar system prospering into the 21st Century. Faster rockets cut back on an astronaut's radiation intake. Being a space speedster may also reduce loss of bone and muscle mass, as well as limit circulatory changes due to prolonged microgravity exposure. One approach to express lane rocketry is tagged the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR). With VASIMR's oomph, a 10-month one-way trek to Mars -- the standard assumed for today's chemical rockets -- would be reduced to just four months. Research on this high-tech propulsion method has turned controversial, however. VASIMR supporters see dream machinery in the making. Other propulsion experts claim the engine delivers more hype than hypervelocity."
Credit Mars news.com
www.marsnews.com...

We will thank former astronaught Chang Diaz once we start using the Vasmi
"Chang D�az, Director of the ASPL, is a man of many talents. He has a number of challenging missions under his belt since becoming an astronaut, such as taking part in the final shuttle-Mir docking. In a footnote to history, he was spared the fate of the Challenger crew in 1986 as a result of his team being moved up one flight in a last minute re-shuffle. Chang D�az has a Ph.D. in plasma research and has been working on these rockets since 1979. So how exactly do they work?"

Thanks to universetoday.com
www.universetoday.com...

Do a google on vasimr and you will see that Russia is all over this. I did not post the pages as I cannot read 99% of it but I am sure some of you can.

Anyone have any information as to weather Nasa has picked this research back up or for that matter any space program?

X

Found some newer information out there about this engine. This is probably going to be our CEV engines.

Vasimr Paper Dated in 2004

Doing searches for VX-10 and VX10 brings up a whole new group of information.

I was thinking maybe this was abandoned but Im finding more info daily. Still digging...

I have sended a link in another topic earlier this week on the space2004 conference on 28 - 30 september if right.

there they are going to talk about the nozzle and the rest of the system.

www.aiaa.org...

Nice post Xeven. I had forgotten about this engine, it does show a lot of promise.
The only drawback that I see is having to use a nuclear reactor to power it.
However in the long run the blossoming helium 3 technologies should go a long way towards making the vasimr engine the drive of choice for most inner system travel.

www.hollandsentinel.com...

It has been a long time since I looked for new information on this Plasma Engine that could right now, propel humanity into deep space, if we invested some cash into it. I am glad to see Dr. Diaz is still following his dream.

Evidently, he has built a prot0ype that will be tested on the ISS. Shame they do not just put the money into the budger for an extra launch this year and move this technology along.

Astra Rocket Company

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[edit on 2-3-2009 by Xeven]

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[edit on Tue Mar 3 2009 by Jbird]

When is tech ever quickly put into application especially by Nasa?!! They will test this propulsion system for a decade or so before they even launch a probe with it. Manned mission to mars? Yeah that will never happen. We will have discovered the secrets behind interstellar travel before anyone sets foot on mars. Heck even then we probably still won't leave this rock. (besides in probe form) NASA scientists are a bunch of P*$$*^$!! What happened to our need for exploration? What happened to the Magellans and Charles Lindberghs? Most importantly why cant civilians go into space? Take Virgin Atlantic. They are putting together a civilian space program to fly people into space. Think it will fly (pardon the pun)? Probably not if the U.S. Government has anything to do with it. It makes me sick to my stomach I tell you! Where is the human spirit? Don't hold your breath on any sort of propulsion ever being put into a manned mission to anywhere (besides maybe the moon just to shut us up.)

Well, they're testing it by using it as the primary thruster to keep the ISS in it's proper orbit - so it's not as if they're ignoring the technology. That's a pretty mission-critical debut for a new technology.

Right now VASIMIR is one of a few very promising space drives that are being developed, but not many have VASIMIR's flexibility.