With the possibly inexorable move away from fossil fuels, we’ve been looking at various methods of transportation that will need to be different when they go electric. In April, we looked at high-speed rail and hyperloop, both electric-powered, as possible replacements to air travel (Riding High-Speed Rail or Shooting through a Hyperloop Tube). During June, we’ve looked at Formula I Racing (Drivers – Start Your Motors…) and electric airplanes (Electric Planes – the Future of Air Travel? …).
But what about rockets? The immense power of modern rockets is a thing to behold (Saturn V). I’ve watched any number of launches by SpaceX, Rocket Labs, ULA, etc., and am constantly amazed that science and engineering have harnessed such forces. I can’t wait for the first launch of the Space Launch System vehicle being assembled in Florida for the Artemis 1 mission.
Smaller rockets and thrusters using different technologies, but operating on the same Newtonian principles, move spacecraft once they are in orbit. And rockets propel probes, landers, and now a helicopter, millions, if not billions, of miles across the solar system to orbit planets and asteroids and land on Mars and the Moon, for example.
How much of this could be and will be replaced by electric rockets?
As it stands now, no electric-based technology exists that would lift heavy payloads off the Earth and into orbit. However, hundreds of probes and satellites are currently using electric thrusters to maintain positions and maneuver. Electric thrusters have been in operation since the 1970s, and NASA is looking at options for using nuclear electric engines to send astronauts to Mars (Nuclear Propulsion Could Help Get Humans to Mars Faster).
One advantage of nuclear electrical propulsion is the ability to propel the spaceship under constant thrust. Chemical rockets like the videos above use all their fuel in a relatively short time but get the spacecraft moving at the high speeds needed to escape the Earth’s gravity and get to where they’re going. Electric propulsion puts out less thrust but can run for a longer time. This could shorten the travel times by quite a bit.
Imagine getting to Mars in a few months or even days. Think of an immense spaceliner, like an ocean liner, which stays in space and travels back and forth between Earth, the Moon, Mars.
Would you go for a visit?
Next week we’ll look at some of the transit times and do a little retrospective on how these questions have been addressed in fiction. Stay tuned.
[Disclaimer: Please accept my apologies for any ads that pop up before the linked videos. They do not reflect my position, nor do I endorse any of the products – it’s just a YouTube thing I can’t get around.]