Mass driver constrained by a limited amount of onboard spacecraft power. Thrust and momentum from exhaust, per unit mass expelled, scales up linearly with its velocity (momentum = mv), yet kinetic energy and energy input requirements scale up faster with velocity squared (kinetic energy = mv). Too low exhaust velocity would excessively increase propellant mass needed under the rocket equation, with too high a fraction of energy going into accelerating propellant not used yet. Higher exhaust velocity has both benefit and tradeoff, increasing propellant usage efficiency (more momentum per unit mass of propellant expelled) but decreasing thrust and the current rate of
Numerical model of the Solar System "a", "a") can be calculated from Newton's Law of Gravitation. Each body attracts each other body, the total acceleration being the sum of all these attractions. Next one chooses a small time-step Δ"t" and applies Newton's Second Law of Motion. The acceleration multiplied with Δ"t" gives a correction to the velocity. The velocity multiplied with Δ"t" gives a correction to the position. This procedure is repeated for all other bodies. The result is a new value for position and velocity for all bodies. Then, using these new values one starts over the whole calculation for the next time-step Δ"t". Repeating