Global Flyer

In article ,
Ron Wanttaja wrote:

[snip]
So...we have to burn our downward thrusters for four hours. "G" on the Moon
is
about 5.6 ft/Sec^2. We'd need to burn the same to counter that. Total
acceleration required is 5.6 ft/sec^2 x 4 hours x 3600 seconds/hour... about
80,000 FPS, about sixteen times more than a ballistic S/C using a mass driver
for launch, and, as a point of interest, almost three times what a spacecraft
launch from the *Earth* needs. With the accel/decel Delta-V, our 870-pound
spacecraft requires 24.9 *million* pounds of fuel.

Doesn't the vehicle get lighter as fuel and oxidizer are consumed,
requiring less thrust, lowering the consumption rate...

Dan "and-so-on, and-so-on, and-so-on" Nafe
danATscuba-trainingDOTnet