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by heimatau 2132 days ago
This boils down to theoretical vs applied. The OP approx. stated that we're basically 1/100 of the way there and this theoretical drive is currently impossible to implement.

I've changed my career path because of these problems. I was a Math Major and now EE. These are the problems we need to be focusing on. Instead of using outdated and faulty technology from the 1960s.

IMHO, humanity is an inflationary species (for lack of a better term). We want to grow, spread and thrive. We aren't using a horse and a buggy. We (mostly) aren't shipping big chunks of ice around the world. We've made massive innovations happen and we should continue. It's nice that VASIMR is trying to push the envelop. Hopefully more of us can join together and tackle these big problems together.
1 comments
sandworm101 2132 days ago
>>> The OP approx. stated that we're basically 1/100 of the way there

But we really aren't 1/100th of the way. That's like saying a 90miles/gallon car is 1% of the way to getting 9000 miles/gallon. Getting from one to the other cannot happen through incremental improvements. It requires totally different, as yet unexplored, areas of science.

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heimatau 2132 days ago
>> That's like saying a 90miles/gallon car is 1% of the way to getting 9000 miles/gallon.

Yeah. I think that would be apt to say.

If you're able to do some napkin math about the sheer amount of R&D to get to the other 99%, start a company ASAP because that is the billion (maybe trillion) dollar question.

Getting there is different, yes, which was entirely my original point. I'd rather not shoot an idea down before we've even started. Let's stop with the nitpicking and actually build. Incremental is probably the only way that we will get there. Think like a builder, not a complainer.

Will getting the other 99% look like how we got 1%? Of course not and if it does...then we're actually very close to a major breakthrough because we have a lot of the auxiliary technology already fleshed out.

Every journey begins with one step and we already have made a few steps. Now onto making many more.

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