say using three spaceships and placing each one in a specific orbit

imagine three intersecting orbits which could be used on an ongoing basis

timing the 1st departing space supply ship to meet with a second space craft at a one third way point

which then travels to meet another spacecraft at the 2 3rds way point which then travels on wards to mars

could multiple spacecraft use specific orbits to help with speeding up space travel

an orbit around earth

an orbit around mars

an middle orbit that intersects both other orbits

and use the sling shot effect at both ends

while one supply ship leaves earth, another spacecraft leaves mars

while yet a third spacecraft travels to meet the supply ship traveling from earth

which after the exchange then heads back to meet the ship traveling from mars

maybe using 2 ships instead of 1 ship for the middle orbit

so using 4 ships

CrazyNeutrino said:

say using three spaceships and placing each one in a specific orbit

imagine three intersecting orbits which could be used on an ongoing basis

timing the 1st departing space supply ship to meet with a second space craft at a one third way point

which then travels to meet another spacecraft at the 2 3rds way point which then travels on wards to mars

could multiple spacecraft use specific orbits to help with speeding up space travel

an orbit around earth

an orbit around mars

an middle orbit that intersects both other orbits

and use the sling shot effect at both ends

while one supply ship leaves earth, another spacecraft leaves mars

while yet a third spacecraft travels to meet the supply ship traveling from earth

which after the exchange then heads back to meet the ship traveling from mars
maybe using 2 ships instead of 1 ship for the middle orbit

so using 4 ships

Um. I think I’d need to do the maths to answer this. But I get the idea.

Is your idea with plasma rockets based on this website?
http://www.aerorocket.com/PlasmaRocket.html

Note the first two orbit images.

A Hohmann transfer ellipse goes from Earth’s orbit around the Sun to Mars’s orbit around the Sun.

The first orbit image shows a transfer orbit from Earth’s orbit around the Sun past Mars’s orbit around the Sun. This makes the trip much faster but stopping at Mars becomes a problem.

The second orbit image shows a transfer orbit that goes inside Earth’s orbit around the Sun past Mars’s orbit around the Sun. This makes the trip faster still, but both boarding near Earth and stopping at Mars becomes a problem.

These faster trips require a rapid change in velocity on boarding and departing the transfer spaceship. I like to think of it as boarding a high speed train that isn’t slowing down by catching hold of a bungee cord trailing from its side. It can be done, but the stuntman would need to do a lot of planning. For a fast spaceship it’d be similar except that the relative speed of a high speed train is of the order of 250 km/hr, while the relative speed of a spacecraft is of the order of 4000 km/hr. A typical bungee cord now deals with velocities of order 50 km/hr.

or

Just simply use a lot of fuel in the acceleration and deceleration phases.

Use the old (1960’s) Project Orion, get there in less than a month and carry about fifty times as much gear as you could with a chemical or electric rocket.

Spiny Norman said:

Use the old (1960’s) Project Orion, get there in less than a month and carry about fifty times as much gear as you could with a chemical or electric rocket.

—

Since weight is no limitation, an Orion craft can be extremely robust. An unmanned craft could tolerate very large accelerations, perhaps 100 g. A human-crewed Orion, however, must use some sort of damping system behind the pusher plate to smooth the instantaneous acceleration to a level that humans can comfortably withstand – typically about 2 to 4 g.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion)

The problem with your idea of multiple ships in stable orbits is that a rocket travelling to Mars via these ships must adjust its speed to match each ship it docks with, costing much more fuel than a simple, direct Hohmann transfer.

btm said:

The problem with your idea of multiple ships in stable orbits is that a rocket travelling to Mars via these ships must adjust its speed to match each ship it docks with, costing much more fuel than a simple, direct Hohmann transfer.

Unless, as I explained above, the transfer is done without matching speeds. Doc (EE) Smith discussed this possibility in science fiction long ago. In modern times it could be done with a bungee cord, hence my analogy of catching a high speed train by grabbing a bungee cord that the train trails alongside. Not easy, but possible.