← Back to context Comment by drivebyhooting 6 hours ago For that particular mission I’d be curious to compare to an ion drive architecture. 4 comments drivebyhooting Reply Klathmon 5 hours ago Don't ion drives consume comparitively a lot of xenon to work? drivebyhooting 5 hours ago Yes, they have substantially lower specific impulse than fission fragment. db48x 1 hour ago Production ion drives have ISPs between 1000s and 4000s (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_thruster#Comparisons). A fission fragment drive would have an estimated ISP of over 100,000s (https://www.nasa.gov/general/aerogel-core-fission-fragment-r...). Of course you can just buy an ion drive off the shelf, which is definitely an advantage. And making the fuel for a fission–fragment drive is probably going to be fun. m4rtink 19 minutes ago Not to mention needing a nuclear power source anyway, this far from the sun.
Klathmon 5 hours ago Don't ion drives consume comparitively a lot of xenon to work? drivebyhooting 5 hours ago Yes, they have substantially lower specific impulse than fission fragment. db48x 1 hour ago Production ion drives have ISPs between 1000s and 4000s (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_thruster#Comparisons). A fission fragment drive would have an estimated ISP of over 100,000s (https://www.nasa.gov/general/aerogel-core-fission-fragment-r...). Of course you can just buy an ion drive off the shelf, which is definitely an advantage. And making the fuel for a fission–fragment drive is probably going to be fun. m4rtink 19 minutes ago Not to mention needing a nuclear power source anyway, this far from the sun.
drivebyhooting 5 hours ago Yes, they have substantially lower specific impulse than fission fragment. db48x 1 hour ago Production ion drives have ISPs between 1000s and 4000s (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_thruster#Comparisons). A fission fragment drive would have an estimated ISP of over 100,000s (https://www.nasa.gov/general/aerogel-core-fission-fragment-r...). Of course you can just buy an ion drive off the shelf, which is definitely an advantage. And making the fuel for a fission–fragment drive is probably going to be fun. m4rtink 19 minutes ago Not to mention needing a nuclear power source anyway, this far from the sun.
db48x 1 hour ago Production ion drives have ISPs between 1000s and 4000s (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_thruster#Comparisons). A fission fragment drive would have an estimated ISP of over 100,000s (https://www.nasa.gov/general/aerogel-core-fission-fragment-r...). Of course you can just buy an ion drive off the shelf, which is definitely an advantage. And making the fuel for a fission–fragment drive is probably going to be fun.
Don't ion drives consume comparitively a lot of xenon to work?
Yes, they have substantially lower specific impulse than fission fragment.
Production ion drives have ISPs between 1000s and 4000s (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_thruster#Comparisons). A fission fragment drive would have an estimated ISP of over 100,000s (https://www.nasa.gov/general/aerogel-core-fission-fragment-r...). Of course you can just buy an ion drive off the shelf, which is definitely an advantage. And making the fuel for a fission–fragment drive is probably going to be fun.
Not to mention needing a nuclear power source anyway, this far from the sun.