Aluminum Fuel Could Power Future Space Trips

" ... using seven inches of nanoaluminum and ice ..."

Hi JohnDG,

During a recent field test, the Purdue team launched a nine-foot tall rocket more than 1300 feet into the air using a hollow rod of ALICE [ALuminum-ICE] seven inches long and three inches across. In less than a second the rocket had accelerated to approximately 200 miles per hour.

No indication of the inside diameter though. Your point is well taken - article writers are not very quantitative in their reporting.

Mike

I'm too lazy at the moment to do the calculation, but I suspect that if you accelerated an object to 200 mph, and then just let it coast, it would reach 1300 feet high. But then I realize that even many science and energy commentators don't seem to know the difference between a kilowatt and a kilowatt-hour. Reminds me of yellow journalism.

Since it's a solid fuel, one wonders how they will get back from the moon or mars.