Scientist accidentally finds shortcut to Mars could slash travel time in halfmsn.com 2 pointsmegamike4 months ago2 commentsSaveHideCopy link On HNComments−cratermoon4moSpoiler: The shortcut requires roughly twice the current delta-v capabilities of the largest rockets.−jfengel4moAnd since delta-v is exponential to fuel, that's going to be much more than twice as much rocket.Plus you arrive faster, meaning that your payload on the far end needs even more fuel to slow down.TFA says that the next generation of rockets might be able to do that, but that sounds unlikely.
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Spoiler: The shortcut requires roughly twice the current delta-v capabilities of the largest rockets.
And since delta-v is exponential to fuel, that's going to be much more than twice as much rocket.
Plus you arrive faster, meaning that your payload on the far end needs even more fuel to slow down.
TFA says that the next generation of rockets might be able to do that, but that sounds unlikely.