Laser-powered aircraft. Now, that's cool.
Oct. 10th, 2003 10:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
plutherusNASA Successfully Flies First Laser-powered Aircraft
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Now, this is only a small-scale model, but it proved the technology can still work. Unfortunately, the technology does not translate directly to spacecraft, for a couple of reasons. One, it seems the acceleration is very low. It needs to be more than 1G to launch, and chemical rockets are still our best bet for that. And two, there is still a need for reaction mass. For aircraft, it's easy: you're reacting against the air. In space, you need to carry your own reaction mass, since there isn't enough air available.
However, that said, I can see a great potential for something like this on Mars, where you can put up a laser-powered solar satellite to power a large aircraft in the Martian atmosphere for an indefinite period of time. Using this, and a decent AI on the plane, they can scan the surface with satellites, and send the plane to dozens of different locations around the planet for, for example, sample retrieval missions, before the return craft launches back.
I am looking forward to seeing where this is going.
.
Now, this is only a small-scale model, but it proved the technology can still work. Unfortunately, the technology does not translate directly to spacecraft, for a couple of reasons. One, it seems the acceleration is very low. It needs to be more than 1G to launch, and chemical rockets are still our best bet for that. And two, there is still a need for reaction mass. For aircraft, it's easy: you're reacting against the air. In space, you need to carry your own reaction mass, since there isn't enough air available.
However, that said, I can see a great potential for something like this on Mars, where you can put up a laser-powered solar satellite to power a large aircraft in the Martian atmosphere for an indefinite period of time. Using this, and a decent AI on the plane, they can scan the surface with satellites, and send the plane to dozens of different locations around the planet for, for example, sample retrieval missions, before the return craft launches back.
I am looking forward to seeing where this is going.
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Where else?
Date: 2003-10-10 01:11 pm (UTC)Military applications, of course.