Adrian Tymes wrote:
> ...One could imagine RC maintenance bots, drifting from solar sat to solar
> sat, skimming reaction mass from the atmosphere for ion engines powered
> by its own PV system...
The breakeven point for a system skimming reaction mass from
the upper atmosphere would require exhaust velocities in excess
of 8km/sec. This is at the limit of current space based ion engines.
Perhaps Doug will comment on this. spike
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