From: schillin@spock.usc.edu   
      
   dajpe@aol.com writes:   
      
   >For decades now, companies have been using jets of water under   
   >extremely high pressure to cut through various material, including   
   >steel. The water jet can emerge from a tiny 1mm nozzle at speeds of   
   >3,000 feet per second, using something like 50,000 PSI of pressure.   
   >Could this jet be used in space for propulsion?  It would seem to me   
   >that any mass ejected from a spacecraft at 3 times the speed of sound   
   >would produce quite a bit of thrust.  Would it be any better than   
   >chemical rockets?   
      
   The main engines on the Space Shuttle produce a water jet at a speed   
   of 15,000 feet per second, using only 3,000 psi of pressure, without   
   requiring an external power source.  So, the general idea is right,   
   but chemical rockets do it better across the board.   
      
      
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