-1 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
View submission: xkcd: Quantum Vacuum Virtual Plasma
Think about long-time space missions. Getting solar energy is not *that* big of an issue, but now we can use it to move a sattelite or ship around! And if you've played Kerbal Space Program, you know a small change in the right place can get you a lot of options.
But in numbers, yeah it's not that spectacular yet. Ofcourse a conventional motor still works best for all intents and purposes, but human telephone line operators did it better at first as well.
Comment by frezik at 06/08/2014 at 12:39 UTC
5 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Thing is, VASIMR's reaction mass is already tiny, gives decent thrust, doesn't require physics to break itself, and is well on its way to actual use. It's not obvious that a reactionless drive with tiny thrust would actually be a practical improvement.
Attempts at reactionless drives and perpetual motion machines will come and go, but there's a whole bunch of science out there that actually works, and it's amazing.