YK Bae can now amplify photonic laser thrust by 1500 times and if combined with military grade lasers and targeting would enable fast and hyperefficient space transportation
by noreply@blogger.com (brian wang) from NextBigFuture.com on (#2C8Q0)
Young Bae of Advanced Space and Energy Technologies in Tustin, California, has improved his photonic laser thruster. was developed with NASA funding. His thruster works because light exerts pressure when it hits something. In theory, it is possible to move an object like a CubeSat by nudging it with a laser beam. In practice, however, the pressure which light exerts is so small that a device able to do a useful amount of nudging would require a laser of unfeasibly large power.
Dr Bae has overcome this limitation by bouncing light repeatedly between the source laser and the satellite, to multiply the thrust. In his latest experiments, Dr Bae has managed to amplify the thrust imparted by a single nudge of the laser by a factor of 1,500, which is big enough to manoeuvre a CubeSat as well as a conventional thruster would. This brings two advantages. First, since no on-board propellant is required, there is more room for instruments. Second, there being no fuel to run out, a CubeSat's orbit can be boosted as many times as is desired, and its working life prolonged indefinitely.
a suitable laser is required to provide the thrust. Dr Bae thinks it could be in orbit as well. The laser would be powered by solar cells and shepherd a veritable flock of CubeSats, providing the propulsion needed to move and arrange them as required.
In 2015, Bae had achieved 400 times amplification in 2015 with up to 3.5 millinewtons with a 500 watt laser. The new 1500 amplification should enable about 14 millinewtons of thrust with a 500 watt laser. There are 10 to 150 kilowatt lasers being tested by the US Military. A 150 kilowatt laser with 1500 times amplification would have 4.2 newtons of thrust. Compact high power lasers are being developed for integration in to US stealth fighters in the early 2020s.
Proven but classified technology should enable photonic propulsion to operate out to 100 kilometers.
An Economist magazine discusses the work at Bae Corp which could be used for moving cubesats in the near future.
Photonic Laser Thruster - Photonic Railway
An array of one thousand 100 kilowatt lasers would be 100 megawatts of power. Amplified ranges of 100,000 kilometers should be possible with a plausible 20 years of development. A 100 megawatt PLT with 1000 times amplification would enable trips too and from the moon in less than 15 hours for a 1 ton spacecraft.
A simple PLT system could provide continuous and constant thrust in a straight line. However, travel around the solar system involves interacting with planets and the sun, so trajectories and travel time calculations are more complex. Fu-Yuen Hsiao has investigated the trajectories of spacecraft relying entirely on a PLT.
Bae's investigation concluded that the development of interstellar photonic railway will require development in x-ray lasers and future advanced material science and technologies. Bae further concluded that the realization of the interstellar photonic railway would require that the PLT technology developments ride on the Moore's law as the 20th century silicon devices did.
Specific energy as a function of spacecraft velocity relevant to Mars missions. The flight time to Mars is for flyby missions, and rendezvous missions would take more than twice longer. For 3 day flight to Mars, the photonic railway (PLT-BLP) would be several orders of magnitude energy efficient than the conventional rockets with Isp of 3,000.
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Dr Bae has overcome this limitation by bouncing light repeatedly between the source laser and the satellite, to multiply the thrust. In his latest experiments, Dr Bae has managed to amplify the thrust imparted by a single nudge of the laser by a factor of 1,500, which is big enough to manoeuvre a CubeSat as well as a conventional thruster would. This brings two advantages. First, since no on-board propellant is required, there is more room for instruments. Second, there being no fuel to run out, a CubeSat's orbit can be boosted as many times as is desired, and its working life prolonged indefinitely.
a suitable laser is required to provide the thrust. Dr Bae thinks it could be in orbit as well. The laser would be powered by solar cells and shepherd a veritable flock of CubeSats, providing the propulsion needed to move and arrange them as required.
In 2015, Bae had achieved 400 times amplification in 2015 with up to 3.5 millinewtons with a 500 watt laser. The new 1500 amplification should enable about 14 millinewtons of thrust with a 500 watt laser. There are 10 to 150 kilowatt lasers being tested by the US Military. A 150 kilowatt laser with 1500 times amplification would have 4.2 newtons of thrust. Compact high power lasers are being developed for integration in to US stealth fighters in the early 2020s.
Proven but classified technology should enable photonic propulsion to operate out to 100 kilometers.
An Economist magazine discusses the work at Bae Corp which could be used for moving cubesats in the near future.
Photonic Laser Thruster - Photonic Railway
An array of one thousand 100 kilowatt lasers would be 100 megawatts of power. Amplified ranges of 100,000 kilometers should be possible with a plausible 20 years of development. A 100 megawatt PLT with 1000 times amplification would enable trips too and from the moon in less than 15 hours for a 1 ton spacecraft.
A simple PLT system could provide continuous and constant thrust in a straight line. However, travel around the solar system involves interacting with planets and the sun, so trajectories and travel time calculations are more complex. Fu-Yuen Hsiao has investigated the trajectories of spacecraft relying entirely on a PLT.
Bae's investigation concluded that the development of interstellar photonic railway will require development in x-ray lasers and future advanced material science and technologies. Bae further concluded that the realization of the interstellar photonic railway would require that the PLT technology developments ride on the Moore's law as the 20th century silicon devices did.
Specific energy as a function of spacecraft velocity relevant to Mars missions. The flight time to Mars is for flyby missions, and rendezvous missions would take more than twice longer. For 3 day flight to Mars, the photonic railway (PLT-BLP) would be several orders of magnitude energy efficient than the conventional rockets with Isp of 3,000.
Read more