starship-design: Bussard drive

[Timothy van der Linden <Shealiak@XS4ALL.nl>]

Hi Kyle,

You quoted:
>The speed of the Bussard jet soon reaches an upper
>limit--about 10 percent of light speed--where thrust is equal to wind
>resistance and the ship can accelerate no further."

This thus means that the exhaust velocity of a Bussard drive is also about
0.1c (assuming minimal energy losses). If somehow the exhaust velocity
could be increased, then so would the maximum velocity.

Kyle, does the text from which you quoted also say something about maximum
exhaust velocity? Ie. Why can't the Bussard design be upgraded to say
exhaust velocities of 0.5c?

Timothy