+46 As soon as Space X manage to fit their vertically landing rockets with electrical propulsion so that they're silent on acceleration and landing we will have effectively the type of UFO's we saw in the movies. Silent and ability to land and take off anywhere. amirite?

by Anonymous 3 years ago

We just need small portable fusion!

by Anonymous 3 years ago

They tried that with locomotives and aircraft, it'll likely never happen due to the weight required to shield the reactor. It would never ever be safe to have portable fusion anyway, the possibility of crashing into something and busting the reactor open can't be fully mitigated

by Anonymous 3 years ago

Fusion.....not fission. Definitely would be problematic with nuclear fission. But in the future when (if?) nuclear fusion happens its already proven to be safe. Crashing a fusion reactor would be expensive but it wouldn't be at all dangerous - there's no radiation to deal with.

by Anonymous 3 years ago

Electrical propulsion exists, it's called Ionic propulsion. The thing is, that any type of propulsion includes ejecting material at very high speed, be it with flammable propellant or an electromagnetic field. And that ejection of matter will make a hell of a noise in any cases.

by Anonymous 3 years ago

There's no such propulsion that could launch a rocket from Earth's surface. Unfortunately.

by Anonymous 3 years ago

It's useful for propulsion once you're out of the earth's atmosphere, very little gravity to overcome and you can get yourself up to ludicrous speeds with very little thrust in the right amount of time

by Anonymous 3 years ago