*promote

Promoting this video and sending it back into the queue for one more try; last queued Thursday, January 7th, 2010 12:52pm PST - promote requested by kulpims.

I could do without the retarded music and MTV editing.

It is from a "Brainiac" level broadcast, so I am happy it is as good as it was!

Initial interest brought to you by http://www.videosift.com/video/Plasma-Rocket-Breakthrough

That one is more newsy, this one has more tidbits of how it works.

Great. Now all we need to do is invent cryosleep and we'll be well on our way to making love with giant blue alien babes.

Ion engines are nothing particularly new, and this piece gives no indication of how his rocket would be an improvement over current ion rockets. It does have fancy CG renderings, however.

Or snu snu with giant amazon women!
>> ^mentality:
Great. Now all we need to do is invent cryosleep and we'll be well on our way to making love with giant blue alien babes.

>> ^LooiXIV:
Or snu snu with giant amazon women!
>> ^mentality:
Great. Now all we need to do is invent cryosleep and we'll be well on our way to making love with giant blue alien babes.



"And in the end, is that not what man has dreamt of since first he looked up at the stars?" - Captain Zapp Brannigan

Ion rockets (they aren't really rockets, they are called ion thrusters) as they stand do not generate that much thrust. This is vastly different than an ion drive. The only function the magnetic field has in this drive is to focus what is a very traditional "jet stream" of superheated plasma out the tail. A ion drive uses the magnetic field to "push" off ions...very different concepts. The ion drive is great because the amount of fuel is needs is so minute...but thrust is also fairly pitiful.

(upon further reading, the best ion drive is about x2 less powerful than this particular drive. This particular drive is running at 59% efficiency. They have plans for a slightly larger rocket that is about 80% or so efficiency, which brings them up to about what a normal rocket efficiency is.)

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag.(show it anyway)

This guy's a hero. I hope he makes it work. Shame they don't operate in atmosphere. I'd love to see something like this take off.

39 days is not 7 to 9 days.

39 day mission does not a one way trip make. The rocket can get you there that fast, hang around for a bit, then come back...39day mission.

I wouldn't get hung up on them not working in the atmosphere. Once (fingers crossed) the first space ladder gets up and running any rocket style tech for leaving Earth is going to look very primitive and wasteful. Between the two techs, we could have a very viable system for significant expansion into space. Hope I'm around to see it.

Me to man, if I could do anything it would be to free myself of my earthly bonds and wonder around the big deep.

Upvote for Earth becoming a national park.

How fitting that Commander Pavel Andreievich Chekov discovers plasma propulsion.

There's an implication in the video that this is somehow fusion based, but that's not at all the case.

Personally I'm waiting for warp drive.

Wiki on fusion. "In nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry, nuclear fusion is the process by which multiple like-charged atomic nuclei join together to form a heavier nucleus. It is accompanied by the release or absorption of energy, which allows matter to enter a plasma state."

Plasma is also known to some as the 4th state of matter. It is ever present in fusion, though not limited to. Most discussions about plasma though involve stars by and large.

This scientist was featured on Nova Science Now! last year.

If I haven't seen it, it's new to me!

*dead

This video has been declared non-functional; embed code must be fixed within 2 days or it will be sent to the dead pool - declared dead by BoneRemake.

*kill Turns out, this rocket is actually really bad and is stealing away funds from real rocket candidates because idiots like me, who know nothing about rockets, keep asking about it. Politics over function...sorry rocket scientist.

Permanently discarding this video - kill requested by GeeSussFreeK.