not new to old-school scifi readers.
A version of LASER boost meets solar sail. Clarke even write a piece for Boy's Life n this...in 1964
Posted on 03/25/2023 6:22:05 PM PDT by TChad
A newly proposed propulsion system could theoretically beam a heavy spacecraft to outside the confines of our Solar System in less than 5 years – a feat that took the historic Voyager 1 probe 35 years to achieve.
The concept, known as 'pellet-beam' propulsion, was awarded an early-stage US$175,000 NASA grant for further development earlier this year.
To be clear, the concept currently doesn't exist much beyond calculations on paper, so we can't get too excited just yet.
Still, it's attracted attention not only because of its potential to get us into interstellar space within a human lifetime – something that traditional, chemical-fueled rockets can't – but also because it claims it can do so with much larger crafts.
"This proposal examines a new propulsion architecture for fast transit of heavy (1 ton and more) payloads across the Solar System and to interstellar medium," explains the lead researcher behind the proposal, aerospace engineer Artur Davoyan from the University of California, Los Angeles.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencealert.com ...
So, beyond Pluto? Still a long way to anywhere else.
Yep.
Yes. Quicker does not mean quick.
powered by rabbits
Yes, we can all contribute a lot of fuel!
>> $175,000 NASA grant
Racial agitators get far more for their college tuition
NOT THOSE PELLETS
not new to old-school scifi readers.
A version of LASER boost meets solar sail. Clarke even write a piece for Boy's Life n this...in 1964
FTL is the only way.
Good catch. Thanks.
Sean Jeffrey Christiphet is ready to go.
Be careful writing about “Clarke” and “boys” in the same sentence...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke
Big difference from laser alone is the amount of mass that hits the sail. In a way this is an artificial solar wind. I like it.
Sounds like it would be a one-way trip.
yA KNOW...if you think about it NASA should have branched off long ago with a serious exploration of our own world IE:oceans. SApace is cool and all/satellites etc... TANG....but we no less of our own God given world yet spend BILLIONS running around where we can’t grow a piece of grass?
I suppose they could send a ship large enough to hold a second propulsion laser that would then be left at the destination. That way the remaining bit could be sent back. Once the laser’s on site, then larger craft could shuttle back and forth.
Maybe eventually set up nuke powered way points that could be used to send craft in any direction at strategic points in the solar system. Just rendezvous with a way point and have it’s laser shoot you to the next leg of the journey.
The track record of government agencies, including the military, have destroyed my faith & trust regarding their honesty. What has been done by our government is not only a shame, it's often been criminal, as we keep learning new revelations from various sources, including whistleblowers from within.
I still love my country deeply, but not what it has become.
And without a plan to decelerate it, it’s only good for probes.
You’re still taking a couple of hundred generations to get to the Alpha Centauri system, and a few billion generations (with a “B”) to get to the Andromeda galaxy.
They don’t call it “space” for nuthin’.
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