[thackney]

Bad Title. This isn't water powered, it is solar powered.

Water is only the mechanism to transfer solar energy into motion.

It would be the same as calling our cars rubber powered since the tires provide the force against the road to move us.

[Vaquero]

put air craft carrier reactors in orbit (after refit to make them a low/no gravity reactor) and surround it with tanks holding multi tonnage of water(for cooling, propulsion, shielding, growing food etc) and then use your steam rocket....with 30 years supply of fuel you could sail out to the Kuiper Belt or closer to Europa for unlimited propellant in water contained there...the massive amounts of electricity produced can also manufacture hydrogen and oxygen(from the h2o) for atmosphere and for chemical rocket engines for maneuvering etc...

forget about the solar BS

[6ppc]

Water is only the mechanism to transfer solar energy into motion.

Correct. The proper term for the water would be reaction mass, not fuel.

Regarding getting the water into orbit...chemical rockets would not be the way to do it. Freezing the water and launching it with electromagnetic rail guns or ground based lasers would be the way to go. If humans don't have to go along for that ride there would be no limit on how many gees the launch system could generate.