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Beam-powered propulsion, also known as directed energy propulsion, is a class of aircraft or spacecraft propulsion that uses energy beamed to the spacecraft from a remote power plant to provide energy. The beam is typically either a microwave or a laser beam, and it is either pulsed or continuous.
Lightcraft being propelled by laser. The Lightcraft is a space-or air-vehicle driven by beam-powered propulsion, the energy source powering the craft being external.It was conceptualized by aerospace engineering professor Leik Myrabo at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1976, [1] who developed the concept further with working prototypes, [2] funded in the 1980s by the Strategic Defense ...
Laser propulsion is a form of beam-powered propulsion where the energy source is a remote (usually ground-based) laser system and separate from the reaction mass. This form of propulsion differs from a conventional chemical rocket where both energy and reaction mass come from the solid or liquid propellants carried on board the vehicle.
“Beam concepts are unique in that their propulsion capability principally derives from the separation of power and propulsion subsystems from the spacecraft itself,” Limbach wrote, “thereby ...
The NEXT thruster has demonstrated, in ground tests, a total impulse of 17 MN·s; which as of 2010 was the highest total impulse ever demonstrated by an ion thruster. [2] A beam extraction area 1.6 times that of NSTAR allows higher thruster input power while maintaining low voltages and ion current densities, thus maintaining thruster longevity.
A laser thermal rocket is both a type of beam-powered propulsion and a thermal rocket. The thermal energy source is a laser, which heats a working fluid in a heat exchanger. The working fluid is then expanded through a nozzle to produce thrust.
The gridded ion thruster is a common design for ion thrusters, a highly efficient low-thrust spacecraft propulsion method running on electrical power by using high-voltage grid electrodes to accelerate ions with electrostatic forces.
A spacecraft has beamed back some of the best close-up photos ever of Mercury’s north pole. The European and Japanese robotic explorer swooped as close as 183 miles (295 kilometers) above ...