It does not sound like great achievement, but it enables to make the trip at top speed of 136 km/s ( averaging possibly 80 km/s ).
It means around 17 days ( 15 tops ) to get to Mars using MPDT. Coming back may take a bit longer ( 20-25 days ).
I switched to SRBs ( solid rocket boosters ) and started to get some serious numbers for this.
Food and oxygen production.
NASA on SAP ( Solar Electric Propulsion ); https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCPFKBo7rco
I have no idea why Michi Kaku abandons the MPDT drive here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLxx_saZEGY
He gets the mass fraction of the chemical rocket wrong ( by 10% ) when talking about mass of the fuel on a rocket. He also has a magnitude error in the distance to the Alpha Centaur ( 10 000 times around the Earth ).
But he does pretty well tell what a MPDT is all about.
One way to explain this is this picture here.
Small craft capable to reach orbit and jettison the ” parasite” craft able to move from Earth to Mars…and spread the solar arrays like a sail boat….and get some decent speed increase with minimal weight loss.
Here my math for the aeroplane type rocket efficiency.
The weight of the fuel has been increased by 20% ( by just making bigger casings ).
So I have two stage rocket now and all stages are reusable.
Any comments ?
Stageing has evolved.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallium_arsenide
See how effective the solar panels can be nowadays…and lite.
These should convince you that at really high speed the space rocket can also be flown like an aeroplane.
Space becomes dence at relativistic speeds.There are 1.8 atoms per 1 cm3 in empty space.
To tell you about the possible top speed of this device you may want to get familiar with the term Oberth effect and gravity assist.
Since the MPDT is able to produce delta-v of 3500 km/s and Oberth effect can multiply this speed 16 fold when passing the sun…then here is the picture to get you familiar with the planetary aligned gravity assist.
In my mind this is the only way to actually reach other star systems.
Here is more about this Spaceshiptwo.
http://www.virgingalactic.com/human-spaceflight/our-vehicles/
My design is pretty much based on a similar idea.
Ok frankvw !
The rocket plane stuff thread in the general discussion here; http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?141953-Let-s-do-some-rocketry-!&p=2383212&posted=1#post2383212
Here is Space Ship Two…the tank is bigger than I drew above.
This has got more boost now.