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I promise that I'm not trying to brag, but I've seen this system up close many times. It truly is as awesome as it sounds, revolution is indeed the word to apply here.

And of all the astronauts I've met, Dr. Chang-Diaz is one of the most sincere and sharp that I have ever been around. He's an all-around competent man, and very level-headed.

If he and his facility ever get appropriate funding, he's the perfect person to push this technology to the top. Knowing this, it's painful to watch the lab sweat out the budget every damn year!

The real plus for this propulsion technology is being able to vary or modulate the plasma exhaust while maintaining maximum power. This technique works like the function of the transmission in a conventional automobile. That is, you have engine power either for speed when driving on a level highway or for torque over hilly terrain.

Two parameters are varied during a typical engine operation: thrust and the velocity of the particles being exhausted. This latter factor is called the specific impulse. As a VASIMR ship accelerates on its journey, the thrust decreases and the specific impulse increases. The opposite is true as the ship slows down at its destination.

This has me a little confused. Could you explain how this works and why it would be important?