New nuclear engine concept could help realize 3-month trips to Mars
Check my thinking here, from a lay perspective:So the fastest way to point B in space (Mars, Europa, whatever) would be to accelerate constantly until you're halfway there, and then flip around and start slowing down, right?OTOH, a more efficient approach is to achieve some velocity V via an initial burn and/or gravity assist, and cruise along via Newton with no additional burn until time to slow down and drop into orbit at your destination.I further assume that, if you live passengers you'd prefer not to render into soup, you must labor under an acceleration limit.Realistically, what IS that limit? And would would the acceleration plan look like for a long flight like Mars with people aboard?Lots of hard-ish SF (notably the Expanse) handwaves this away with drugs or whatever, which is fine for storytelling, but I'm sort of curious what we could actually tolerate.