Nasa begins testing radical 'proton power' system that could send spacecraft to the edge [tr]

UK Daily Mail ^ | April 12, 2016 | Cheyenne McDonald

[C19fan]

Nasa engineers have begun testing the concept for a new propulsion system that could slash the time it takes for spacecraft to reach interstellar space. The system would interact with particles released by the sun, repelling protons to create thrust and achieve unprecedented speeds. Researchers say this could bring spacecraft to the heliopause in just 10 years – a feat that took the Voyager craft 35 years.

[C19fan]

If you really want to go fast need to use a Queller Drive. :0

[DannyTN]

That’s rad.

[Westbrook]

Impulse power.

[Happy Rain]

“Colon power” to reach Uranus.

[Purdue77]

I saw the part about getting to the heliopause, but missed the part about getting to the edge of the universe. Regardless, if this works as advertised it should help explore the outer solar system, if not in my life time then in my grandkids’ life times. Perhaps we can even find Planet X -1.

[rjsimmon]

Probably not as fast as the Improbability Drive...

[seawolf101]

Former Nasa Proton Power testing site.

[mikrofon]

[baltimorepoet]

Space 1999?

[baltimorepoet]

That reminds me, do you know why the USS Enterprise is like a piece of toilet paper?

They both circle around Uranus and wipe out Klingons!

[Delta 21]

Thats only a 1/3 improvement.

You gotta do much better than that.

[Red Badger]

Roger Ramjet had it first!...........................

[alancarp]

That’s not very likely. Bring your towel.

[C19fan]

Cha ching!

[Don Corleone]

Professor Proton and Dr. Sheldon Cooper are the lead physicists on the project.

[Happy Rain]

In that frame Scotty is watching Uhuru and saying:
“Hey Lassie, that’s some mighty fine twerkin’ yer doin’ there.”
I think it was on episode 2 of the 2nd Season.

[TexasFreeper2009]

find oil on pluto and lightspeed travel will be invented overnight! lol

[MRadtke]

But it could have a radical effect on space yacht racing...

[dartuser]

A factor of 3 in spaceship velocity is not an advance at all ... if we cannot get to a meaningful fraction of light speed, then space travel to another star system is impossible. The distance is too far.

Right now it takes light 18+ hours to get to the edge of interstellar space ... and the nearest star is 4+ light years away. So if we could travel 1/10 light speed ... it would take 40+ years to get there ... but 1/10 light speed represents a quantum leap in travel over our current technology.

At best, this new proton engine would allow us to get to Mars a few months sooner.

[Flick Lives]

At best, this new proton engine would allow us to get to Mars a few months sooner.

It is not as sexy as warp drive, but cutting the time to mars from the current 6 months to say 6 weeks would be significant, especially if one wants eventually to have human crews. It would mean significantly less food and fuel would be needed for the trip.