|
Beamed Energy Propulsion: an Introduction
This brief note is about Beamed Energy Propulsion (BEP), which is, actually, a rocket science. However, you dont have to be a rocket scientist in order to understand what it Bep is about. Beamed Energy Propulsion is a simple process and I will explain it to you in next few paragraphs.
Rocket science is, of course, about rockets. What is so special about rockets and how do they work? Motion on Earth is based upon pushing against the environment, wherever the motion takes place. For example, cars use wheels to push off from the pavement, birds use wings to push against the air, and so on. Space is basically empty, so in order to fly in space every rocket has to use the reaction principle, i.e. burn fuel, form exhaust gases and push from that exhaust in opposite direction. This means That the hot gases being expelled are actually pushing againt the body of the rocket, pushing the rocket forward.
So, in essence, rockets are the only manmade vehicles that push away from their own exhaust and move that in theopposite direction. Rockets have to carry everything needed for motion in space onboard. And this is a heavy burden and it brings a great downside: The price of cargo gets enormously high.
Is there a way to lighten this burden of carrying fuel, oxygen and the equipment to burn it? That is the question that Beamed Energy Propulsion may be the answer to. By beaming energy at the rocket, as the burning agent, we can, in part, separate out one component of the propulsive energy from the rocket itself. And this could reward rocketeers with a gigantic increase in efficiency!
This system of moving rockets is possible. Energy can be delivered to a rocket from a remote external source using light in the form of a laser, x-rays or microwave high-power beams. Using strong and flexible, yet low in weight mirrors, a rocket can collect and focus types of "light beams" on its "fuel". And now, any solid matter can be a fuel. For when a high-powered beam of photons is focused on a solid material, the material evaporates and ionizes instantaneously, turning into a stream of exhaust that moves the rocket.
The energy density in a focused high-power beam exceeds hundreds to millions of times the energy density in the heat of burning hydrogen. Thus, beam-driven rocket will remain a rocket, it will be pushing from its own exhaust. Since the energy value of this exhaust is much higher, and the rocket itself is much lighter, compared to the current hydrogen burners, the cost of taking cargo into space or to the Moon or Mars, can be drastically reduced.
|
What kind of efficiency is gained by a beam-driven rocket vs. a hydrogen burning rocket? Hydrogen burners cost us $10,000 per pound of payload delivered into low earth orbit. Scientifically-proven calculations have shown that the price of space delivery per pound drops to a tiny $100, for laser-driven rockets: a hundredfold, revolutionary drop in cost!
Laser propulsion, i.e. use of high-power lasers for satellite launches and in-space transportation is the most developed today branch of BEP. Various types of laser propulsion have been demonstrated in the field and by many research groups in lab. Microwave propulsion is another relatively well explored part of BEP. Much less is known about the potential of x-rays and particle beams for BEP.
Overall, beamed-energy propulsion remains a field of future technology, where a lot of interesting development will happen in the next several decades. Still, it is quite clear, that in the future a great part of space transportation will be driven by high-power photonic beams.
About the Author: Andrew Pakhomov is founder and president of the American Institute of Beamed Energy Propulsion, a nonprofit scientific organization, dedicated to the development and popularization of this space technology of the future, AIBEP. He is also associate professor of physics at University of Alabama in Huntsville. To learn more about current state of beamed energy propulsion, please visit official site of AIBEP.
News About Beamed Energy Propulsion
My case for Mars Lifeboat Foundation (blog) Since the majority of a Mars mission cost is in the propulsion, a Mars project in that context wouldn't cost much at all. The only way now known that the cost could get that low is beamed energy. Applied to the outbound mission, Ve would be close to 9 ... |
 DBKP - Death By 1000 Papercuts | DBKP Book Review: 'Extraction Point!' more fun than a barrel full of ... DBKP - Death By 1000 Papercuts He's currently working on several advanced propulsion concepts, very large space telescopes, space-based beamed energy systems, and next generation space launch concepts. In his copious spare time, Doc Travis is also a black belt martial artist, ... |
Google News