[vannrox]

I WOULD LIKE FOR THIS TO BE TRUE...BUT IF KERRY GETS IN OFFICE, THEN WE CAN KISS OUR SWEET DREAMS OF A MARS LANDING...IN OUR LIVES...GOOD-BYE!

[Jeff Chandler]

They should take the sort cut through the sun.

[Josh in PA]

This is a stretch..

I'm not sure how the human body could handle that accerleration.

[Redbob]

I can't help but wonder what would happen to the space station emitting this plasma beam: where would it end up after driving the spacecraft toward Mars?

Remember Sir Isaac's First Law...

[r9etb]

There is, however, the minor difficulty of coming back the same way....

[sr4402]

Is there any science that says this is possible? Has there been any measurable push from any beam to date?

[sierrahome]

There are several other hypothetical in shortening the time. One of the safety factors is to try to produce a powered flight as opposed to the thrust and then coast of the Moon shot. Sadly and incredibly the plans for the Apollo Saturn booster were to be destroyed through a treaty with the USSR--so if we needed the plans we would probably need to visit KGB HQ. There is also a dual thrust system using conventional and atomic power. the reactor would allow for power to super heated gasses (plasma) and also the reactor would power the craft thereby reducing the need for limited battery power source. (I stayed at a Holiday Inn express last night)

[Walkingfeather]

what sweet dreams of mars??? I mean for God sake we havent saved those poor souls on gilligans Island yet.

[CaptRon]

This guy's read the 'Mote in God's Eye' (although that was a laser beam).

[Stag]

OK, not really a techno geek, but if they are shooting magnetized particles at a sail, presumably it is attached to a ship with computers on board. Don't magnets and computer drives not play well together? Just a thought.

[AxelPaulsenJr]

Someday it will be possible to go further than Mars.

[newgeezer]

Mars in 90 days, eh? Fine. Let that Virgin Airlines billionaire go for it (Bronson or whatever his name is).

[MineralMan]

They'd better watch out for these characters:

[Conan the Librarian]

Sounds like it would be a breeze!

[Physicist]

A team of University of Washington researchers believes it has found a way to cut roundtrip travel time between Earth and Mars by 95 percent, giving astronauts a much higher chance of pulling off a successful mission while minimizing their exposure to dangerous radiation.

I don't get it. How does aiming a powerful beam of radiation at the spaceship minimize the exposure of the astronauts to radiation?

[Atlas Sneezed]

I'll be the spoilsport who suggests that with our modern computing power, we needn't send people to Mars.

We could do 100 sample recovery missions (accepting a portion that failed) for the cost of a single manned mission that achieved far less. Or ten unmanned missions for one tenth the cost of a single manned mission.

[MRMEAN]

I'm still waiting for the Dean Drive.

[r9etb]

Winglee envisions setting up beam generator on a space station that would send streams of magnetized ions toward the spacecraft's sail.

I just realized something -- if the generator can send that many ions toward a spacecraft, it's going to get one hell of a push in the opposite direction. Conservation of momentum, and all that.

Wonder how they intend to counter it?

[Vic3O3]

ping

[Mr. K]

They should used the gravity drive the aliens used in the spaceships studied by Bob Lazar