Weight makes a huge difference for lifting to orbit and speed is what we need for long distance travel.
Get mars down to a few weeks or even days and its ours.
Weight makes a huge difference for lifting to orbit and speed is what we need for long distance travel.
Get mars down to a few weeks or even days and its ours.
Instead of making another space station we need to build a “Nuclear Tug” in orbit with a nuclear rocket that would allow it to fly between the first couople of planets. Then it could take multiple probes to mars with personelle on board to maintain them.
Use a Bigelow module for the habitat, and a Nuclear Thorium Reactor for the power source along with Ion thrusters for constant acceleration and a nuclear rocket for breaking to and from orbits of the planets.
We could probably build this thing for what it costs to keep the ISS in it’s perpetual orbit.