It is worth remarking though, that even a nuclear rocket might learn something useful from practicing the gravity turn maneuver. Just because you have an easy time leaving Earth’s atmosphere and have no need of finesse, doesn’t mean your travels won’t land you on Venus someday.
I’m reminded of the career advice page on Terry Tao’s blog. When I first found it many years ago as a student, I wondered why someone like Tao would bother to write about stuff like “work hard” and “write down what you’ve done” and “be patient” and “learn and relearn your field”. Wasn’t this for “mere mortals” like me who have to do the best we can with the (relatively) limited brains we’ve got, instead of prodigies who win IMO gold medals at 13 and get PhDs from Princeton at 21 etc? But for whatever reason this particular nuclear rocket practiced the gravity turn maneuver pretty seriously; and (at least in math circles) we know how he turned out.
I’m reminded of the career advice page on Terry Tao’s blog. When I first found it many years ago as a student, I wondered why someone like Tao would bother to write about stuff like “work hard” and “write down what you’ve done” and “be patient” and “learn and relearn your field”. Wasn’t this for “mere mortals” like me who have to do the best we can with the (relatively) limited brains we’ve got, instead of prodigies who win IMO gold medals at 13 and get PhDs from Princeton at 21 etc? But for whatever reason this particular nuclear rocket practiced the gravity turn maneuver pretty seriously; and (at least in math circles) we know how he turned out.