Travelling Speed of Light Part 4

Last time I was going to look at shielding, However I am going to put that off for a bit.  A while ago I came up with the concept that all these Parts were going to point too.  I came up with a concept of if you want to travel the speed of light you would need to generate a light drive.

Through my reading to gain facts about shields, I came across a design for a real light drive concept.  So I wanted to jump ahead and discuss quickly my concept as well as give the links to their awesome concept.

Light Drive – My Concept.

Sorry for the poor “Paint” drawing as I am no artist.  But the concept is for light to enter the chamber, be reflected through a series of magnifiers to concentrate the light and also through a series of filters to refine the light.  The final concentrated light to come out the back.

You then use the “safe” light to propel the aircraft in to space. Basically use light to push the ship.

 Their Concept – Light Propulsion Drive

The basic idea behind light propulsion is the use of ground-based lasers to heat air to the point that it explodes, propelling the spacecraft forward. If it works, light propulsion will be thousands of times lighter and more efficient than chemical rocket engines, and will produce zero pollution.

Light-propelled rockets sound like something out of science fiction — spacecraft that ride on a laser beam into space, require little or no on board propellant and create no pollution. Sounds pretty far-fetched, considering we haven’t been able to develop anything close to that for conventional ground- or air-travel on Earth. But while it may still be 15 to 30 years away, the principles behind the lightcraft have already been successfully tested several times.

The basic idea for the lightcraft is simple — the acorn-shaped craft uses mirrors to receive and focus the incoming laser beam to heat air, which explodes to propel the craft. Here’s a look at the basic components of this revolutionary propulsion system:

• Carbon-dioxide laser – Lightcraft Technologies uses a Pulsed Laser Vulnerability Test System (PLVTS), an offspring of the Star Wars defense program. The 10 kw pulsed laser being used for the experimental lightcraft is among the most powerful in the world.
• Parabolic mirror – The bottom of the spacecraft is a mirror that focusesthe laser beam into the engine air or onboard propellant. A secondary, ground-based transmitter, telescope-like mirror is used to direct the laser beam onto the lightcraft.
• Absorption chamber – The inlet air is directed into this chamber where it is heated by the beam, expands and propels the lightcraft.
• Onboard hydrogen – A small amount of hydrogen propellant is needed for rocket thrust when the atmosphere is too thin to provide enough air.

Prior to liftoff, a jet of compressed air is used to spin the lightcraft to about 10,000 revolutions per minute (RPMs). The spin is needed to stabilize the craft gyroscopically. Think about football: a quarterback applies spin when passing a football to throw a more accurate pass. When spin is applied to this extremely lightweight craft, it allows the craft to cut through the air with more stability.

Once the lightcraft is spinning at an optimal speed, the laser is turned on, blasting the lightcraft into the air. The 10-kilowatt laser pulses at a rate of 25-28 times per second. By pulsing, the laser continues to push the craft upward. The light beam is focused by the parabolic mirror on the bottom of the lightcraft, which heats the air to between 18,000 and 54,000 degrees Fahrenheit (9,982 and 29,982 degrees Celsius) — that’s several times hotter than the surface of the sun. When you heat air to these high temperatures, it is converted to a plasma state — this plasma then explodes to propel the craft upward.

Very UFO if you ask me. mmmm food for thought?

To read more http://science.howstuffworks.com/light-propulsion.htm

Summary

Their concept still uses heat and explosion to propel the craft and still will not reach light speed. My concept is to use light itself as the propellant, thus travelling with light up to light speed.

Whichever way you look at it, it makes sense that the future of space travel may well be using light as the power source. We could even get to the moon in under 5 hours.  It would ten only take 42 days to get to Mars.

Hows that for future tourism!