Advanced beamed-energy and field propulsion concepts

[drejr]

Very interesting NASA document from 1983:

Advanced beamed-energy and field propulsion concepts - NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Specific phenomena which might lead to major advances in payload, range and terminal velocity of very advanced vehicle propulsion are studied. The effort focuses heavily on advanced propulsion spinoffs enabled by current government-funded investigations in directed-energy technology: i.e...

ntrs.nasa.gov

 

[Rhinocrates]

Interesting. A lot of the less mathematical content - particularly the illustrations - found its way into this book a couple of years later:

The Future of Flight: Luke Myrabo, Dean Ing: 9780671559410: Amazon.com: Books

The Future of Flight [Luke Myrabo, Dean Ing] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Looks at technological developments which will shape the future of air and space travel, including ultralight aircraft

www.amazon.com

Leik Myrabo went on to further refine the 'lightcraft' concept, but things seemed to have stopped with his retirement in 2011.

 

[drejr]

By interesting I meant the battlecruiser towards the back.

 

[quellish]

Interesting. A lot of the less mathematical content - particularly the illustrations - found its way into this book a couple of years later:

The Future of Flight: Luke Myrabo, Dean Ing: 9780671559410: Amazon.com: Books

The Future of Flight [Luke Myrabo, Dean Ing] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Looks at technological developments which will shape the future of air and space travel, including ultralight aircraft

www.amazon.com

Leik Myrabo went on to further refine the 'lightcraft' concept, but things seemed to have stopped with his retirement in 2011.

JASON did an interesting summer study on laser propulsion.

 

[Dilandu]

By interesting I meant the battlecruiser towards the back.

Yep. Basically it was attempt to analyze "if we would need a space battlecruiser, what could we do and what should be done?" Quite interesting, must point out!

 

[Arjen]

By interesting I meant the battlecruiser towards the back.

Page 431 of 525:

 

[Doc_Roswell]

Very interesting doc, it also has the following very intriguing images, all looking very much like "saucer" and cigar" shaped UFOs/UAPs as reported by military pilots. Space-Based lasers were being developed with huge funding in this period as part of SDI, so a transportation-based offshoot is reasonably understandable. But the author(s) at BDM also surely knew exactly what they were doing by making their Shuttlecraft designs in the shape of archetypal "discs" and "cigars".

Of course, TRW bought BDM in 1997, then was itself bought by NG in 2002. TRW did a lot of super-cutting edge work for various US space programs, including the Space-Based Neutral Particle Beam (SBNPB) weapon system developed as part of the SDI program. They also built the Chandra X-ray Telescope, launched 1999, another marvel of engineering. In the case of this 1983 CalTech/JPL-sponsored study all designs are powered by laser connection to an external energy source. But if any of these designs could incorporate their own power supply, they could presumably fly on their own using electric principles alone.

I am incorporating many of these figures into a "visual guide to exotic aerospace" book project I am currently working on, but I wanted to also share a few of the choice highlights that are particularly exotic, besides the aforementioned "Manned Space Battle Cruiser" featured in Chapter 14.

- Launch Facility for Laser-Powered Shuttles
- Scaling of Radial Shuttlecraft Configurations (!)
- Schematic Diagram of Lighter-Than-Air Electrostatically Propelled Vehicle
- Schematic Diagram of Interplanetary Carrier (!)
- Aerodynamic Lift Mode [Cylindrical Shuttlecraft / "Cigar" type] (!)
- [Internal Radiation-Heated] IRH Pulsejet Mode [for Cylindrical Shuttlecraft]
- Atmospheric Charging Concepts
- Engine/Optical/Airframe Configuration for Cylindrical Shuttlecraft
- Endoatmospheric Electrostatic Propulsion Concept
- Flight Maneuverability and Control for Cylindrical Shuttlecraft

Edit: spelling

 

[publiusr]

Breakthrough Starshot might be as good as it ever gets.

 

[publiusr]

Just in today at phys.org:

"Scalable nanotechnology-based light sails developed for next generation space exploration."

"Researchers unveil unidirectional light focusing using diffractive optics."

"Electrochemical process that uses carbon dioxide to produce oxygen could be used in space "