>>11441051It would have to expel the mass with greater force than a nuclear explosion, otherwise that would just be what it's already continuously doing that doesn't seem to be getting it anywhere.
In fact, an explosion itself, when NOT constrained by intense gravity, is exactly the phenomenon you suggest. The fuel is propelled outward exceeding its own escape velocity. The only difference is the propulsion isn't concentrated along a single axis, nor is the mass distributed unevenly among the directions it travels.
So a rocket taking off is the exact same thing as an explosion, just concentrated and lopsided so that all the chunks that get blown away one direction are the fuel and only one big chunk gets blasted off in the opposite direction in the form of the rocket itself.
