Dr John Stockton wrote:

[...] Since the acceleration, if at
all strong, need only be relatively brief, it should be perfectly
possible to work with only the solar energy from fixed arrays.

A brief (as in less than 1 day) period of acceleration would require
considerable effort to brace. The solar arrays have detectable responses
to docking and reboosts as it is. I suspect that any "chemical rocket"
type of boost of sufficient magnitude for journey would be tough on the
joints even with the solar arrays removed.

A long, low thrust acceleration, such as an ion drive, would be easier to
use, as the OP noted in reference to spiralling out, but then you get into
the issue of sun angles and VAB radiation damage.

There's a thread somewhere in which a poster recommends multiple small ion
drives to distribute the loads over the structure in a gentler manner.

/dps

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