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Spacecraft propulsion
There are many different ways to accelerate spacecraft.
Below is a summary of some of the more popular, proven technologies, followed by increasingly speculative methods.
| Method | Specific Impulse (seconds) | Thrust (Newtons) | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conventional propulsion methods | |||
| Solid rocket | 100-400 | 103- 107 | minutes |
| Hybrid rocket | 150-420 | minutes | |
| Monopropellant rocket | 100-300 | 0.1-100 | millliseconds - minutes |
| Momentum wheel (attitude control only) | n/a | 0.001-100 | indefinite |
| Bipropellant rocket | 100-400 | 0.1-107 | minutes |
| Tripropellant rocket | 250-450 | minutes | |
| Dual mode propulsion rocket | |||
| Air-augmented rocket | 500-600 | seconds-minutes | Liquid air cycle engine | 450 | seconds-minutes |
| Resistojet rocket | 200-600 | 10-2-10 | minutes |
| Arcjet rocket | 400-1200 | 10-2-10 | minutes |
| Hall effect thruster (HET) | 800-5000 | 10-3-10 | months |
| Ion thruster | 1500-8000 | 10-3-10 | months |
| FEEP (Field Emission Electric Propulsion) | 10000-13000 | 10-6-10-3 | weeks |
| Magnetoplasmadynamic thruster (MPD) | 2000-10000 | 100 | weeks |
| Pulsed plasma thruster (PPT) | |||
| Pulsed inductive thruster (PIT) | 5000 | 20 | months |
| Variable specific impulse magnetoplasma rocket (VASIMR) | 1000-30000 | 40-1200 | days - months |
| Nuclear thermal rocket | 900 | 105 | minutes |
| Nuclear electric rocket | As electric propulsion method used | ||
| Solar sails | N/A | 9 per km2 (at 1 AU) | Indefinite |
| Mass drivers | N/A | Indefinite | seconds |
| Tether propulsion | N/A | 1-1012 | minutes |
| Technologies requiring more engineering development | |||
| Magnetic sails | N/A | Indefinite | Indefinite |
| Mini-magnetospheric plasma propulsion | N/A | Indefinite | Indefinite |
| Gaseous fission reactor | 1000-2000 | 103-106 | |
| Nuclear pulse propulsion (Orion drive) | 2000-100,000 | 109-1012 (not a misprint) | half hour | Antimatter catalyzed nuclear pulse propulsion | 2000-40,000 | days-weeks |
| Nuclear salt-water rocket | 10,000 | 103-107 | half hour |
| Beam-powered propulsion | As propulsion method powered by beam | ||
| Nuclear photonic rocket | 5x106 | 1-105 | years |
| Biefeld-Brown effect | N/A | 0.01-1 (currently) | weeks, probably months |
| Significantly beyond current engineering | |||
| Fusion rocket | |||
| Bussard ramjet | |||
| Antimatter rocket | |||
| Requires new principles of physics | |||
| Alcubierre drive (Warp drive) | Not Applicable | ||
| Wormholes | |||
| Time machines | |||
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