Re: [FT] Solar Thrust: Strategic spaceflight

On Thu, 11 Mar 1999 11:51:18 -0500 (Eastern Standard Time), Keith Watt
writes:
>Hi all - 
>
>   I have just uploaded to the Solar Thrust site a Java applet that
will
>calculate the required transfer orbit (and the delta-V and fuel) to
move
>between any two bodies of the Solar System (the planets are acceible
from
>drop-down lists, but you can input the orbital parameters for
anything). I
>am in the process of writing an article explaining what all the orbital
>elements mean and the derivation of the equations, but I thought in the
>mean time people could play with it and at least get some idea of the
>energy and fuel costs involved in interplanetary travel.  Very soon
I'll
>make a similar applet to go along with the engines article.  The site
URL
>is http://www.erols.com/kwatt/SolarThrust.
>
>Enjoy!
>Keith

Boy, this leads straight into something I was going to ask about
SolarThrust.

I was playing arround with some calculations about travel time between
planets last night, assuming the FT example on the page.  So D-T
engines, 15 minute turns, etc.	It seemed to me that using these rules
it would take about 25 months to travel from the earth to Mars,
assuming you wanted to stop at mars and then get home later.  Very
rough math.

So, when talking about SolarThrust, what kind of time delay are you
thinking about for inter planatary fights?

-=- Matthew L. Seidl		email: seidl@cs.colorado.edu		
   =-=
=-= Graduate Student			Project . . . What Project?	
   -=-
-=- http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~seidl/Home.html 	 -Morrow Quotes 
   =-=
=-= http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~seidl/lawsuit				
   -=-