Related papers: Dynamically Stable Radiation Pressure Propulsion o…
The Breakthrough Starshot Initiative aims to send a gram-scale probe to Proxima Centuri B using a laser-accelerated lightsail traveling at relativistic speeds. Thermal management is a key lightsail design objective because of the intense…
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…
Ultra-intense lasers that ionize and accelerate electrons in solids to near the speed of light can lead to kinetic instabilities that alter the laser absorption and subsequent electron transport, isochoric heating, and ion acceleration.…
We study the drag force on dust grains moving at relativistic velocities through interstellar gas and explore its application. First, we derive a new analytical formula of the drag force at high energies and find that it is significantly…
Laser sail-based spacecraft -- where a powerful earth-based laser propels a lightweight outer-space vehicle -- have been recently proposed by the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative as a means of reaching relativistic speeds for interstellar…
A superintense laser pulse illuminating a thin solid-density foil can, in principle, accelerate the entire foil, therefore yielding dense, collimated, and quasi-monoenergetic ion beams. These unique features render radiation pressure…
Consuming long-range interplanetary medium with fuel for driving plasma thrust is vital. Methods of capturing the space environment depending on its density and the ship velocity are indispensable issues to extract the space environment as…
Micro/nano-scale propulsion has attracted considerable recent attention due to its promise for biomedical applications such as targeted drug delivery. In this paper, we report on a new experimental design and theoretical modelling of…
NASA has been considering a solar sail that would accelerate a craft to a high velocity (~ 14 AU/yr) by the time it reached 5 AU. Then the sail would be dropped and the craft would coast alone to deep space. We propose that the sail be…
Lightsails using Earth-based lasers for propulsion require passive stabilization to stay within the beam. This can be achieved through the sail's scattering properties, creating optical restoring forces and torques. Undamped restoring…
The primary challenge of rocket propulsion is the burden of needing to accelerate the spacecraft's own fuel, resulting in only a logarithmic gain in maximum speed as propellant is added to the spacecraft. Light sails offer an attractive…
The stability of a light sail riding on a laser beam is analyzed both analytically and numerically. Conical sails on Gaussian beams, which have been studied in the past, are shown to be unstable without active control or additional…
Laser sails propelled by gigawatt-scale ground-based laser arrays have the potential to reach relativistic speeds, traversing the solar system in hours and reaching nearby stars in years. Here, we describe the danger interplanetary dust…
Solar sails propelled by radiation pressure enable space missions that cannot be achieved using chemical rockets alone. Significant in-space propulsion for missions such as a solar polar orbiter may be achieved with a sail that deviates…
Dielectric laser acceleration draws upon nano-fabrication techniques to build photonic structures for high gradient electron acceleration. At the small spatial scales characteristic of these structures conventional accelerator techniques…
Scaling down miniature rotorcraft and flapping-wing flyers to sub-centimeter dimensions is challenging due to complex electronics requirements, manufacturing limitations, and the increase in viscous damping at low Reynolds numbers.…
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 short overview of the theory of acceleration of thin foils driven by the radiation pressure of superintense lasers is presented. A simple criterion for radiation pressure dominance at intensities around $5 \times 10^{20} \mbox{W cm}^{-2}$…
Background: A solar sail presents a large sheet of low areal density membrane and is the most elegant propellant-less propulsion system for the future exploration of the Solar System and beyond. By today the study on sail membrane…
Modern Space Launch Vehicles (SLVs), being slender in shape and due to the use of lightweight materials, are generally flexible in nature. This structural flexibility, when coupled with sensor and actuator dynamics, can adversely affect the…