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We can leave the Solar System, but arriving anywhere is not happening soon (arstechnica.com)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Recant to c/technology

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The post demonstrates how infeasible it is to travel to a location outside our solar system anytime in the next several generations.

What are some things you would like to see humanity do within our solar system within the next century? When do you think it is feasible to achieve that goal?

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[–] shiri@foggyminds.com 2 points 1 year ago

@shortwavesurfer The propulsion is absolutely linear, the perk of an ion drive is that it's mostly electrical with minimal fuel consumption.

It's also something we're already using, the first one actually launched was in 1964, though for some reason we never stopped hyping it.

An ion engine would absolutely make the trip take *longer* as you'd have to wait for better transfer windows (9 months is the timeframe *after* we wait for a good transfer window), we'd have to wait even longer for one with an ion drive and it absolutely wouldn't be a shorter window.