Laser Thruster Propels Simulated Spacecraft

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A successful test has been conducted proving that lasers can be used to provide thrust to future spacecraft. In the future application of the photonic laser thruster system could get us to the moon in hours or Mars in just days.

Aproprietary Photonic Laser Thruster (PLT) has successfully accelerated a 450 gram (~1 lb.) spacecraft simulator with pure laser light for the first time. Laser power is still a few decades from being ready for any kind of planetary exploration, but this first test confirms that it works.

"Optical cavities that span many kilometers achieved with precise mirror alignment to enable maneuvering spacecraft many kilometers apart, and propellant-free propulsion of satellites in formations."

The project conducted by the Y.K. Bae Corporation and was funded by a Phase II grant of NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC), which funds the most promising ideas for the next generation space missions.

Conducted in a Class 1,000 cleanroom, Y.K. Bae's demonstration amplified photon power 400-times to achieve photon thrust up to 1.1 milliNewtons by bouncing photons several hundred times between two laser mirrors. The amplified thrust successfully propelled a gliding platform along a two meter frictionless air track, simulating zero-gravity.

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"Moving a 450 gram platform unequivocally validates the useful power-to-thrust ratio of PLT," said Dr. Claude Phipps, Chair of International High Power Laser Ablation and Directed Energy Symposium. "I can see future development that includes optical cavities that span many kilometers achieved with precise mirror alignment to enable maneuvering spacecraft many kilometers apart, and propellant-free propulsion of satellites in formations."

The PLT demonstration simulated beaming thrust between vehicles, which also included slowing and stopping the simulator. Potential benefits of a PLT spacecraft system include a dramatic reduction in fuel consumption in a wide range of space applications, such as orbit adjustments, drag compensation, and rendezvous and docking.

“PLT technology has the potential to revolutionize space mission designs,” said Dr. Mason Peck, Associate Professor in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University, who has also served as NASA's Chief Technologist. “Fully developed PLT could serve current commercial and non-commercial needs by increasing the life of LEO satellites, and therefore reducing mission costs. For the future, this unlimited-impulse technology opens doors to
applications that are currently impractical, like persistent, precision formations of multiple satellites.”

The thrust-beaming capability of PLT further enables a distributed multi-vehicle approach, a revolutionary departure from the "all-in-one" single-spacecraft approach.




SOURCE  SpaceRef

By 33rd Square

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