/sci/ - Science & Math

>>11858591
If you don't care about going further out than Mars, you're done there, since you'll have a solar moth with massively higher Isp at the same thrust for a small weight penalty. If you do want to reach deeper into the dark, add a smaller secondary collimating mirror (pic related) so you can use beamed power where sunlight isn't enough to drive the heat engine. Reflecting heat is a hell of a lot more efficient than photovoltaics so this doesn't need to weigh very much either.