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John Doty
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For high thrust, you have to make a lot of steam in a hurry. Electrical heating is impractical. Chemical heating works: you burn hydrogen to make the steam, as the Space Shuttle main engines did. A really hot, high-powered nuclear reactor might work.

A bunch of people are working on thissteam for small, low thrust systems. For low thrust, electricity is a good energy source. It's even possible to electrically heat the steam to plasma temperatures to get higher specific impulse. Good for adjusting orbits, but not for thrusting against gravity.

https://spacenews.com/water-propulsion-technologies-picking-up-steam/

A bunch of people are working on this for small, low thrust systems.

https://spacenews.com/water-propulsion-technologies-picking-up-steam/

For high thrust, you have to make a lot of steam in a hurry. Electrical heating is impractical. Chemical heating works: you burn hydrogen to make the steam, as the Space Shuttle main engines did. A really hot, high-powered nuclear reactor might work.

A bunch of people are working on steam for small, low thrust systems. For low thrust, electricity is a good energy source. It's even possible to electrically heat the steam to plasma temperatures to get higher specific impulse. Good for adjusting orbits, but not for thrusting against gravity.

https://spacenews.com/water-propulsion-technologies-picking-up-steam/

Source Link
John Doty
  • 4.8k
  • 14
  • 21

A bunch of people are working on this for small, low thrust systems.

https://spacenews.com/water-propulsion-technologies-picking-up-steam/