... In contrast, after 30 years of research, the VASIMR has only obtained about 50 percent efficiency in test stand burns of a few seconds’ duration, and that is only at high specific impulse.
This is the dangerous sentence.Quote... In contrast, after 30 years of research, the VASIMR has only obtained about 50 percent efficiency in test stand burns of a few seconds’ duration, and that is only at high specific impulse.For a 6 month burn the VASIMR needs to thrust for 6 * 32 * 24 * 60 * 60 = 16588800 seconds.It sounds like the current VASIMRs cannot even thrust for a full minute. That definitely needs fixing.
Solar VASIMIR will not move much without panels 10x bigger than on the ISS even with new technology....