this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2024
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Futurology
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This engine seems to work like an ion thruster but uses metal as fuel instead of xenon gas, which is easier to refine and can be found in asteroids all over the Solar System.
It does, which makes this part curious:
Maybe they're using an initial chemical burn to get the propellant in plasma form? Or maybe it has something to do with avoiding buildup on internal surfaces?
Don't forget the moon! It's a perfect location to build a lot of spacecraft, being right there but also most of the way out of our gravity well. It doesn't have much in the way of volatiles, unfortunately, but it has plenty of metals.