Okay which of all the currently in development propulsion engines would have the ability to take us from low earth orbit to Pluto in a reasonable time?

From what i,´ve heard the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket might actually have the ability to do it, if it would be able to cut traveling time to Mars down to a month then maybe it could also take us into the outer solar system with a traveling time of a few years, but still.

But what do you think which of the current "in development" technologies might have the potential to sent us into the outer reaches of our solar system in reasonable time?

VASIMIR is quite good idea.

It has good ISP (specific impulse), and provides relatively high thrust.

I can investigate few different techniques during this weekend (VASIMIR, Ion drive, Orion-like nuclear pulse drive etc.)

Just gimme ammount of payload (in metric tons) you want to deliver from LEO to Pluto.

Also I need to know if it's manned mission or unmanned (I have to take into account consumables for crew)

We,´re talking manned missions of course what,´s the fun in sending robots and satellites out there, we can do that now (more or less) no i would say if mankind is to spend the amount of money sending a ship to Pluto and beyond it should be manned.

Ok. So I got preliminary data and can start designing a mission.

That will be a real heavy spacecraft. Probably something similar to this:

How many people can you fit on that thing? I want to be one of the first on the list.

AFAIK it has 10 crew, but that image was for reference only. It has tootoo low ISP to reach Pluto and get back. When I have planning done (mass and dimensions of fuel tanks etc, I can come up with proper visualization mesh for actual simulation flight (also when I'm finished you'll be able to fly to pluto on your own.)

-----edit-----

I've done some numbers and come up with preliminary design.

empty mass: 5000 tons
fuel mass: 30000 tons of either argon or liquid hydrogen
ISP: 6120 s (60016.698 m/s effective exhaust velocity)
total dV: 116 km/s - it's around 8 times more than New Horizons spacecraft currently enroute to Pluto

Powerplant: 2 military grade "enclosed" nuclear reactors ( 9th or 10th generation) giving ~400 MW of power.

Empty mass includes scientifc payload, powerplant, crew consumables for 10 people, small lander/habitat to actually land on Pluto and perform ground research and all that is needed for mission.

Now it's time to turn it into 3d model and place all elements in their positions.

So how long would a journey, with such a craft, are we talking about here.

How long from the craft sets of from earth till it reaches the outer planets and Pluto?

There are no propulsion engine technologies that can get people to Pluto in a reasonable amount of time for any reasonable definition of reasonable, at least reasonably far into the future.

RigelKentaurusA wrote:There are no propulsion engine technologies that can get people to Pluto in a reasonable amount of time for any reasonable definition of reasonable, at least reasonably far into the future.

I was referring to Loru,´s design.

I was replying the the original post.

Haven't got the time to actually crate visual model but I've put those specs on generic model and flew the mission.

With specs I've come up with, I was able to get to Pluto and return in ~7 years. There was only one problem - I haven't leave fuel for deceleration so I've hit the atmosphere at 25 km/s. All crew died when G forces peaked at 100G

Loru wrote:There was only one problem - I haven't leave fuel for deceleration so I've hit the atmosphere at 25 km/s. All crew died when G forces peaked at 100G

Might put a bit of a damper on the welcome home celebrations...

In reality, maybe the 7 years could be spent building another spacecraft to rendezvous with the craft and pick up the crew with enough fuel to reach Earth safely? Or else perhaps a fuel tank could be planted in an orbit for a rendezvous before the manned craft launches at all? So the manned craft can take the fuel it needs to make a safer landing.

Of course, that would probably push up the budget massively...

I think a Solar sail might help here.

Use it to pick up speed or decelerate might help save some of the fuel so you slow down enough to achieve orbit around Pluto.