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Which is the “best” method of space propulsion?

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Maximum7 Since: Apr, 2017
#1: Sep 28th 2019 at 1:01:00 PM

I’ve come across several concepts of space propulsion drives and I wanted to know which one would be likely to be most suitable for Interplanetary travel, take offs and landings.

Let’s assume they are all possible to create and I am NOT looking for faster than light propulsion.

1.) Dipole drive https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2018/05/robert-zubrin-has-new-propellentless-space-propulsion-concept-dipole-drive.html

2.) Quantized Inertia drive https://www.tsijournals.com/articles/propellantless-propulsion-from-quantized-inertia.pdf

3.) Thermonuclear Micro-bomb propulsion drive https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2013/03/thermonuclear-micro-bomb-propulsion-for.html

4.) Bias drive https://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/B/bias_drive.html

5.) Diametric drive https://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/D/diametric_drive.html

6.) Disjunction drive https://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/D/disjunction_drive.html

7.) Pitch drive https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19990023236.pdf On pg. 5

Which one should I research OR is a good ‘old fashioned ion drive, good enough?

Max
DeMarquis Who Am I? from Hell, USA Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Buried in snow, waiting for spring
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#2: Sep 28th 2019 at 3:50:57 PM

"Good enough" for what? That's not a snarky question—there is no overall "best for everything" drive, there cant be. You have to be more specific what purpose you intend this drive to be used for, and under what conditions. To start off with, every drive that could be invented represents a tradeoff between acceleration and fuel efficiency (which roughly translates into range given a certain fixed timeframe). In other words, the more acceleration you get out of something, the sooner it will run out of fuel, and this limits how long it can accelerate (which determines how fast it will ultimately be traveling). For example, right now the drive type that delivers the greatest acceleration is the standard chemical fuel rocket. Such rockets can go from a standing start to very fast in a hurry over short distances, but are impractical and expensive to base routine interplanetary shipping on. But for certain military purposes, they cant be beat (yet). At the opposite end of the spectrum, laser powered sailships are probably the most efficient realistic designs we have right now, perfect for a nice trip to Saturn, but I wouldn't go into battle with one. There are, obviously, other considerations like robustness, danger to human crew, mechanical complexity and so forth.

So—how are these ships going to be used?

"We learn from history that we do not learn from history."
DeMarquis Who Am I? from Hell, USA Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Buried in snow, waiting for spring
Who Am I?
#3: Sep 28th 2019 at 3:52:17 PM

As for the drives you linked to, I took a quick look at each.

1. Resembles the laser sail drive I mentioned. It looks like it would be a decent low thrust, high efficiency drive if it worked.

2. This is so hypothetical that there is no way to say what kind of drive it would make, even if the theory is sound (which I am not qualified to comment on). You might as well hand-wave it and give the drive any performance specs your story requires.

3. This is a varient of a drive design called "Nuclear Pulsed Propulsion"—it's an old idea, variants of which were first proposed back in the 1970's. High thrust, low efficiency.

4-7, are, again, so hypothetical that it's really impossible to say. They all look like early versions of what has become known as the "Alcubierre Drive", which was first proposed as a type of FTL, but some researchers speculate that even if FTL proves impossible in theory, the "A-Drive" would still deliver very high acceleration over very long distances, depending on energy requirements. Potentially the best one here, but it depends on your requirements, like I pointed out above.

Hope that helps.

Edited by DeMarquis on Sep 28th 2019 at 7:09:38 AM

"We learn from history that we do not learn from history."
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