So from what I read at our current technological level just about the perfect way of powering and moving ships through space would be a combination of ion propulsion and fusion reactors. Does that seems like a fair thing to say? Would it open the solar system up to humans?
I’d personally say that by the time they get the DEMO commercial fusion reactor up by 2040 (at least that’s when it’s planned) It is set to produce 2 GW. By 2040 we should have a souped up enough ion engine for it. And knowing human progress a decade or two after the DEMO reactor we’ll probably find a way to produce the same amount of power in a smaller package.
I personally believe that as long as things go the way they are it’ll be inevitable that humans will spread out across the solar system.
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Conspicuous advances in technology have a way of arriving unexpectedly, frequently while the mainstream scientist community is still pronouncing them impossible.. At least they did during the 20th Century, so maybe it can still be expected, those unexpected advances.
I’m referring to such events as manned heavier than air flight, radar, jet aircraft, transistors, desk top computers, cell phones, Sputnik, and countless other, less obvious corner-of-the-eye advances..
You might be right in your prognosticating, but you might as easily be surprised by something that comes out of nowhere when it’s least expected.