• Rhaedas@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    The reason cited for nuclear propulsion enabling us to get to places like Mars faster is wrong. It’s not the amount of thrust, but the ability to use constant thrust longer (because we can fuel longer burns). It’s why the plot device of the Epstein drive in The Expanse opened up the whole solar system - they can do a burn for days and use up very little fuel. We’re nowhere near that, but nuclear would be far better than conventional rockets that have very limited burn time plus have heavy fuel to carry with them.