Related papers: Relativistic Spacecraft Propelled by Directed Ener…
Interest in the exploration of, and the establishment of a human settlement, on Mars is rapidly growing. To achieve this, rapid transit will be required to bring crucial cargo. Current missions to Mars take 150 days, which would be too long…
Exact payload trajectories in the strong gravitational fields of compact masses moving with constant relativistic velocities are calculated. The strong field of a suitable driver mass at relativistic speeds can quickly propel a heavy…
The dynamics of radiation pressure acceleration in the relativistic light sail regime are analysed by means of large scale, three-dimensional (3D) particle-in-cell simulations. Differently to other mechanisms, the 3D dynamics leads to…
The application of directed energy to spacecraft mission design is explored using rapid transit to Mars as the design objective. An Earth-based laser array of unprecedented size (10~m diameter) and power (100~MW) is assumed to be enabled by…
Propellantless propulsion refers to methods of space travel that do not require onboard propellant, instead relying on natural forces or external energy sources. In this paper, I review different approaches that have been explored and…
Electric sails are propulsion systems that generate momentum via the deflection of stellar wind particles through electric forces. Here, we investigate the relative merits of electric sails and light sails driven by stellar radiation…
A method for asteroid deflection that makes use of a spacecraft moving back and forth on a segment of an appropriate Keplerian orbit about the asteroid is described and evaluated. It is shown that, on average, the spacecraft describing such…
The StarLight program conceptualizes fast interstellar travel via small wafer satellites (wafersats) that are propelled by directed energy. This process is wildly different from traditional space travel and trades large and slow spacecraft…
Experience in exploring our own solar system has shown that direct investigation of planetary bodies using space probes invariably yields scientific knowledge not otherwise obtainable. In the case of exoplanets, such direct investigation…
Space exploration is of paramount importance to advancing fundamental science and providing global services, such as navigation and communications. However, today's space missions are hindered by limitations of existing propulsion…
Advancement in astronomical observations and technical instrumentation implies taking into account the general relativistic effects due the gravitational fields encountered by the light while propagating from the star to the observer.…
A charged particle which is allowed to accelerate must have relativistic behavior because it is coupled to electromagnetic radiation which propagates at the speed of light. We treat the simple steady-state situation of a charged particle…
We examine the use of the interplanetary substance as a possible fuel for spacecraft plasma thrusters for interplanetary flights. The solar radiation is considered as an energy source for the ionization and the acceleration of particles of…
Exploring and traveling to distant stars has long fascinated humanity but has been limited due to the vast distances. The Breakthrough Starshot Program aims at eliminating this limitation by traveling to Alpha Centauri, which is 4.37…
This paper proposes a systematic method for generating practical and robust low-thrust spacecraft trajectories. One contribution is to consider the change in mass of the spacecraft at two levels: a) the propulsive acceleration and b) the…
Thanks to the availability of high-resolution high-sensitivity telescopes such as the Very Large Array, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the Chandra X-ray Observatory, there is now a wealth of observational data on relativistic jets from…
In this paper we look at the ultimate limits of a photon propulsion rocket. The maximum velocity for a photon propulsion rocket is just below the speed of light and is a function of the reduced Compton wavelength of the heaviest subatomic…
We argue that light sails that are rapidly accelerated to relativistic velocities by lasers must be significantly curved in order to reduce their mechanical stresses and avoid tears. Using an integrated opto-thermo-mechanical model, we show…
Radiation pressure afforded by natural broadband sunlight upon a transmissive diffractive sail is theoretically and numerically investigated. A grating period of one micrometer is found to convert 83% of the solar black body spectrum into…
Relativistic jets, or highly collimated and fast-moving outflows, are endemic to many astrophysical phenomena. The jets produced by gamma-ray bursts and tidal disruption events are accompanied by the accretion of material onto a black hole…