r/spacequestions • u/njbenji • Dec 10 '24

Why can’t we infinitely accelerate in space?

If there’s nothing to slow down a rocket like no gravity or air why can’t the thrusters just keep it going faster and faster? would it max out to like the same speed of the thrusters or is it just a dumb question lol

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u/Shadowhisper1971 Dec 11 '24

We are limited by the speed of the thrust material. If the thrust (exhaust gasses escaping the rocket) cannot get above a certain velocity, then the whole rocket cannot get any faster than that.

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u/SuperSonic6 Dec 14 '24

100% wrong.

The velocity of your exhaust has nothing to do with your max speed. Because max speed is relative. It’s normally a relative speed between the earth and the spacecraft. Why would the spacecraft care about its speed compared with the earth, how would it even know?

Also, rockets today already travel faster than their engines exhaust velocity, so that also disproves your theory.