Reply To: EmDrive + Focus Fusion = Space Access for all?

[texaslabrat]

belbear wrote:

In the mean time, I’ll still be putting my money on the space elevator tho 😉

Just because a FF launcher can take off lightweight, it doesn’t even need those outrageous power levels and brutal acceleration associated with Saturn V rockets or Space Shuttles, so much less than a GW may do. Neutron shielding doesn’t need to be as heavy too. The crew compartment must of course be safe, but leaking some neutrons in the atmosphere is not really a problem. Cosmic radiation does similar all the time.

As I mentioned before, an F-16 (a small, single-engine, lightweight fighter) in full afterburner consumes the rough equivalent of 300 MW. The top speed of an F-16 in full afterburner is about Mach 2.0 at altitude. Believe me, you’re gonna need power in the GW scale to even think about a hypersonic high-altitude first stage or a hypersonic trans-continental aircraft. As a “fun fact” comparison, each of the 5 Saturn V first-stage engines consumed a heat-content equivalent of over 30GW. It’s hard to wrap your head around the shear power requirements needed for high-performance flight..but they are indeed quite steep.