|
|
|
|
|
|
by T-A
1957 days ago
|
|
|
> they get up to what speed That looks like a Freudian typo. They get up to their top speed faster, but that top speed is lower. Their high thrust comes from spewing out lots of mass at relatively low exhaust velocity, i.e. low specific impulse. And delta-v is directly proportional to specific impulse: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsiolkovsky_rocket_equation The lady's quote may have been a reference to gravitational assist, which must currently be used to get planetary probes to destination with puny chemical rockets: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_assist It gets the job done... eventually, after long detours around another planet or two than the one you actually want to reach. |
|
|