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Examples

  • Could resources on the moon i.e. water/fuel/reaction-mass be lifted from the moon at lower cost than from Earths gravity well?

    Lighting our Space Habitats Stephen D. Covey 2009

  • At one-half g, a compromise between impatience and reaction-mass economy, the passage took a pair of weeks.

    Starfarers Anderson, Poul, 1926- 1998

  • They had gotten ahead of themselves in some areas, of course, but there was no sense in wasting time or idle hands On another machine, workers were practicing yet again on a stainless-steel blank that simulated the folded-cylinder plutomum reaction-mass primary.

    The Sum of all Fears Clancy, Tom, 1947- 1991

  • No great harm done; but if the shot had been directed at the reaction-mass tanks — “How very distressing, Captain,” Falkayn said.

    The Earth Book of Stormgate Anderson, Poul, 1926-2001 1978

  • But it was just a chance they would have to take ... and anyhow, he reminded himself, a Navy ship could not maintain a high boost for long; her mile-seconds were strictly limited by her reaction-mass tanks.

    The Past Through Tomorrow Heinlein, Robert A. 1967

  • But it was just a chance they would have to take ... and anyhow, he reminded himself, a Navy ship could not maintain a high boost for long; her mile-seconds were strictly limited by her reaction-mass tanks.

    Methuselah's Children Heinlein, Robert A. 1958

  • Small though she was, she had the engines and reaction-mass tanks of a cruiser, she could land directly on any planet the size of Earth or less, could maneuver after a fashion in atmosphere, could support her crew for years, could run tests on every imaginable factor of environment.

    The Long Way Home Anderson, Poul, 1926- 1955

  • So we carry a reaction-mass reserve which allows us a total velocity change of about one thousand kilometers per second after journey's end.

    The Burning Bridge Poul William Anderson

  • But the baffles themselves crumbled and were flung astern, so that the solid-fuel rockets had always the efficiency of gas-throated rocket motors; and yet every bit of refractory was reaction-mass to be hurled astern, and even the steel tubes melted and were hurled away with

    Space Tug Murray Leinster 1935

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