NASA LASER PROPULSION SYSTEM COULD REVOLUTIONIZE SPACE TRAVEL

[GhostZ06]

A new project from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration currently being developed, the NASA Laser Propulsion System could revolutionize space travel. This would allow for much faster space travel than it has been known until now; trips to Mars could be completed in as little as 3 days, in comparison to their current estimated time of completion of 6 months to 2 years, depending on the orbital position of both the Earth and the Red Planet in relation to the sun.

Sadly, however, this concept is still a bit of technological marvel when it comes to scientists to put it in practice right away. The way researchers are thinking of making this work is by finding a way to apply the rules and methods they do in the case of particles used in accelerators. With the current knowledge and technology it’s not an issue to get particles to move at the speed of light, but larger scale objects – such as a spacecraft would be – are a completely different story.

So far, large scale objects have not been able to achieve 3% of that speed because of physical limitations of the human-made technology so far. There are simply some laws of nature that mankind has yet to discover workarounds to.

http://www.argyllfreepress.com/2016...sion-system-could-revolutionize-space-travel/

 

[Bukowski82]

Endlessly fascinating.

 

[Kick Strickland]

neat

 

[andnowweknow]

Sounds like something not even remotely close to practically being used.

 

[andnowweknow]

I know we can walk and chew gum but can we cut the fucking bullshit already and put some more funding into near earth objects and getting rid of them and the danger they pose. None of this space travel will be relevant if we're back in the stone age because our budget was so small we got KO'd by a dark rock.

This is, with zero equivocation, the single biggest issue our space aspirations face...and the annual budget is like 30 million dollars.

 

[Skip Reming]

oh holy shit, just bend space-time by making a mini black hole like someone who might have actually go into an ivy league school you GED motherfuckers

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

Link wont open for me; are they talking about Plasma or Photon Thrusters?

 

[FierceRedBelt]

I know we can walk and chew gum but can we cut the fucking bullshit already and put some more funding into near earth objects and getting rid of them and the danger they pose. None of this space travel will be relevant if we're back in the stone age because our budget was so small we got KO'd by a dark rock.

This is, with zero equivocation, the single biggest issue our space aspirations face...and the annual budget is like 30 million dollars.

That's ridiculous.

 

[TheRatman]

Thats is cool.

Did anyone see the Telescope special in discovery channel the other day. That a was a really good program on the new scope they launching

 

[FierceRedBelt]

Link wont open for me; are they talking about Plasma or Photon Thrusters?

However, this time around it won’t be photons coming from the sun carrying space crafts to other places in our solar system, but instead it would be lasers.

And this time around, the theory is actually applicable at a larger scale too, not just applicable at a small scale like particle accelerators do. Laser propulsion is something that is already used and there’s little to no limitation from taking it up to a larger scale; large enough to send space shuttles all the way to Mars. This is the kind of idea that is not only feasible in a realistic, ‘to-be-achieved’ in the next decade method of reaching further parts of our solar system, but also a much better way of launching various types of shuttles as part of manned or unmanned expedition.

The fuel-based propulsion is not only inefficient, expensive but also potentially harmful to a number of things. By employing laser propulsion technology instead, launching space crafts into outer space would be easier, does not face fuel limitations and comes with a lot more efficiency when it comes to long distances.

 

[M3t4tr0n]

I know we can walk and chew gum but can we cut the fucking bullshit already and put some more funding into near earth objects and getting rid of them and the danger they pose. None of this space travel will be relevant if we're back in the stone age because our budget was so small we got KO'd by a dark rock.

This is, with zero equivocation, the single biggest issue our space aspirations face...and the annual budget is like 30 million dollars.

We're too busy fighting about race, politics, religion etc.

 

[Abezal]

A nice theory/idea is seems.

But nuclear power is the obvious way to go these days.

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

I know we can walk and chew gum but can we cut the fucking bullshit already and put some more funding into near earth objects and getting rid of them and the danger they pose. None of this space travel will be relevant if we're back in the stone age because our budget was so small we got KO'd by a dark rock.

This is, with zero equivocation, the single biggest issue our space aspirations face...and the annual budget is like 30 million dollars.

Lightsail is deploying a Craft using nothing but a new solar sail propulsion concept . That theory could be applied to what you are concerned about.


@FierceRedBelt

so photonic direct thrusting - not the ground to air focused laser sail conception.

My favourite concept is still the Weed antimatter rocket - borderline insane but highly clever.

 

[andnowweknow]

That's ridiculous.

it's insanity, there is really no other form of psychosis humans suffer more greatly from than that of perpetual coping with problems after the fact as opposed to prevention. We do it in medicine and we are doing it in regards to the literal safety of our cosmic environment.

Here is the problem, and everyone in science understands it but can't get congress to allocate the proper funding because our society is fucked mentally.

Every year, we pass through the taurid meteor stream...2 times. Once in the summer and once around halloween. When you see those pretty "meteor showers", those are pebbles. Within that same stream, are thousands of objects a half mile wide, and a dozens much larger. A half mile wide object hitting us basically ends civilization as we know it...depending on where it hits.

Here is the best way I've heard it described. It's like strapping on a blind fold 2 times a year and walking across a 6 lane highway...and all you are doing is hoping you don't get hit. That's what 30 million a year buys you. It's a joke, but it's dead serious.

The real kicker? There hasn't been any event of note since 1906...so it probably won't happen again any time soon...that's the logic behind congress' repetitive rejection of massive funding towards protecting civilization as we know it.

Rant/ let's develop some lasers and shit to fly around faster and hope someday we get to use them.

TS, cool article by the way, sorry if this derails a little.

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

Thats is cool.

Did anyone see the Telescope special in discovery channel the other day. That a was a really good program on the new scope they launching

The Webb? Makes the Hubble look like something from Lens Crafters.

 

[andnowweknow]

Lightsail is deploying a Craft using nothing but a new solar sail propulsion concept . That theory could be applied to what you are concerned about.



@FierceRedBelt

so photonic direct thrusting - not the ground to air focused laser sail conception.

My favourite concept is still the Weed antimatter rocket - borderline insane but highly clever.

I'm not even super concerned at this point with what we do about the rocks with our name on it...I'm much more alarmed by the fact that every year it seems something the size of texas stadium passes us by between the moon and us and we don't even know about it until it's beyond us. The fact we aren't able to find them before they have already wizzed by is the real issue.

I've seen all sorts of proof of concepts for dealing with the rocks...it seems we're better prepared to deal with one we know about than to actually see the majority of those that pose a threat...and that is just because of resources, or the lack there of.

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

I'm not even super concerned at this point with what we do about the rocks with our name on it...I'm much more alarmed by the fact that every year it seems something the size of texas stadium passes us by between the moon and us and we don't even know about it until it's beyond us. The fact we aren't able to find them before they have already wizzed by is the real issue.

I've seen all sorts of proof of concepts for dealing with the rocks...it seems we're better prepared to deal with one we know about than to actually see the majority of those that pose a threat...and that is just because of resources, or the lack there of.

You could have a mesh network of observation satellites surrounding the Hill Sphere and still not be able to detect every close approach object. Unless we just created a massive laser grid, you may just have to deal with the potential of the very, very rare event happening.

 

[andnowweknow]

You could have a mesh network of observation satellites surrounding the Hill Sphere and still not be able to detect every close approach object. Unless we just created a massive laser grid, you may just have to deal with the potential of the very, very rare event happening.

A.) Your implication it's that rare is false, in fact, these are so hard to detect historically that we missed the single largest extinction event induced by an object from space since the dinosaurs caught the hard goodbye until 2007, and we're still putting the pieces together on that one. Sure, that was 12k years ago, but we know that roughly 100 years ago Tunguska happened, which had it happened over moscow rather than siberia, you'd have millions dead, not just millions of trees broken like twigs.

B.) The budget is the problem. But you are correct, we will never catch everything...it would be nice to put 300 million towards it instead of throwing a paltry 30 million bucks at it to detect less than 1 percent of the estimated amount of dangerous near earth objects. Realistically, we should be investing billions yearly to deal with near earth space, not the 30 million dollars it costs to run a McDonalds for 1 year.

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

A.) Your implication it's that rare is false, in fact, these are so hard to detect historically that we missed the single largest extinction event induced by an object from space since the dinosaurs caught the hard goodbye until 2007, and we're still putting the pieces together on that one. Sure, that was 12k years ago, but we know that roughly 100 years ago Tunguska happened, which had it happened over moscow rather than siberia, you'd have millions dead, not just millions of trees broken like twigs.

B.) The budget is the problem. But you are correct, we will never catch everything...it would be nice to put 300 million towards it instead of throwing a paltry 30 million bucks at it to detect less than 1 percent of the estimated amount of dangerous near earth objects. Realistically, we should be investing billions yearly to deal with near earth space, not the 30 million dollars it costs to run a McDonalds for 1 year.

I hear what youre saying but still, no known human for the past 1000 has been documented being killed by direct impact or by effects of one impacting... take from that what you will

and it would take hundreds of billions to design a mesh network even remotely close monitoring near earth objects at a percentage that would make everyone sleep comfortably at night.

 

[jefferz]

Lightsail is deploying a Craft using nothing but a new solar sail propulsion concept . That theory could be applied to what you are concerned about.



@FierceRedBelt

so photonic direct thrusting - not the ground to air focused laser sail conception.

My favourite concept is still the Weed antimatter rocket - borderline insane but highly clever.

I thought Light Sail had already been launched. That's the Planetary Societies one isn't it?