Re: SpaceX StarHopper Takes First Flight
Hmm, well there are a few really interesting pieces of tech in development that could have us easily booting around the solar system at least. The first being the [VASIMR] Engine, or Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket. What it does is it injects an inert propellant gas and heats/ionizes it using radio waves into a super heated plasma, the resulting plasma is then accellerated and ejected with magnetic fields, which eliminates some of the failure points of conventional Ion engines, such as their electrodes. The beauty of the system is its ability to scale with power with variable thrust profiles, its estimated a well powered VASIMR engine could get to mars in 39 days. Course, the big problem with it is thats its an energy hog, generating tesla range magnetic fields and a lot of waste heat to contain the plasma. Currently there are plans for more low powered space tugs, but for the higher performance applications people are thinking nuclear power's the only currently viable solution, and the closest thing to that would be NASA's little [Kilopower] project for compact fission reactors in space.
As for working in space, not many people seem to have noticed, but Bigelow Aerospace is the company to be paying very close attention to. Some of you might recognize the name, as its the company that flew and tested the inflatable space module on the ISS awhile back. Well they've been quiet lately, but have been impatiently waiting for commercial crew launches like SpaceX's Dragon Crew Capsule to finally get certified and off the ground to start building private [Commercial Space Stations] using their inflatable modules. Two modules should be ready by 2020, with launches contracted for 2021 and 2022 have already been signed. The station link is a pretty interesting read for some of their concepts, like medical stations, biological containment, research, deep space complexes, etc.
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