Beamed Energy Propulsion or, in brief, BEP, is a part of rocket science. However, you dont need to be a rocket scientist to get its idea, it is very simple, and I will explain it to you in the next several paragraphs.
Rocket science is of course about rockets. What is so special about rockets? Motion on Earth is based on pushing from the environment, wherever the motion takes place. For example, cars use wheels to push from the pavement, birds use wings to push from air, and so on. Space is empty, so in order to fly in space every rocket has to use reaction principle, i.e. burn fuel, form exhaust gases and push from that exhaust in opposite direction. There is no air in space, so if you need to burn fuel, you have to carry burning agent together with the fuel onboard. Hence rockets has to carry onboard their fuel (hydrogen), oxidizer (oxygen) and everything that needed to burn hydrogen and keep the motion in desired direction (rocket engine).
So, the rockets are the only manmade vehicles that push away from their own exhaust and move that way. Rockets have to carry everything needed for motion in space onboard, is a heavy burden and it brings a great downside: price of cargo gets enormously high. If we can only separate the source of energy from a rocket, we will be rewarded with gigantic increase in efficiency!
Such separation will be done, if we could beam energy towards the rocket from a remote power station. The rocket will collect the beam and focus it on a "fuel". High-power beam of photons (laser, microwave, x-ray, whatever) when focused on solid matter (even slightly) evaporate and ionize such matter in an instant. I.e. the energy density in such focus is much tighter, than in the heat generated by burning hydrogen. The beam-riding rocket will remain the rocket, it still will need to push from its own exhaust, but this will be much more energetic exhaust, comparing to hydrogen burners! Also, such rocket will be much lighter.
Driven by a high-power photon beam rocket will be composed of very light focusing mirrors, relatively small (energy efficient) solid propellant and, voila: the rest will be payload! Forget heavy liquefied gases (oxygen and hydrogen), cryogenics, fuel tanks and lines, combustion chambers, etc.: Payload, Propellant and Photons, Period! Arthur Kantrowitz, the founding father of laser propulsion, called it 4P Rule.
How much beamed energy is more efficient than traditional hydrogen burning? About hundred times! Currently, for reasons disclosed above we are paying $10,000 per pound of payload delivered from ground to low earth orbit only. If space launches will be done with high-power lasers, the price per pound of payload will fall to $100! This is 100-fold gain!
The most developed today branch of BEP is called laser propulsion, it is based on energy transfer with high-power laser beams. The next in development is microwave propulsion, followed by barely explored BEP with x-rays and particles. The number of in-lab demonstrations of BEP grows every year, and the time of actual demonstration of beam-driven space rocket is getting closer. No question, there is still a lot of work ahead on development of BEP systems, but one thing is clear, they have a great future. - 16752
Rocket science is of course about rockets. What is so special about rockets? Motion on Earth is based on pushing from the environment, wherever the motion takes place. For example, cars use wheels to push from the pavement, birds use wings to push from air, and so on. Space is empty, so in order to fly in space every rocket has to use reaction principle, i.e. burn fuel, form exhaust gases and push from that exhaust in opposite direction. There is no air in space, so if you need to burn fuel, you have to carry burning agent together with the fuel onboard. Hence rockets has to carry onboard their fuel (hydrogen), oxidizer (oxygen) and everything that needed to burn hydrogen and keep the motion in desired direction (rocket engine).
So, the rockets are the only manmade vehicles that push away from their own exhaust and move that way. Rockets have to carry everything needed for motion in space onboard, is a heavy burden and it brings a great downside: price of cargo gets enormously high. If we can only separate the source of energy from a rocket, we will be rewarded with gigantic increase in efficiency!
Such separation will be done, if we could beam energy towards the rocket from a remote power station. The rocket will collect the beam and focus it on a "fuel". High-power beam of photons (laser, microwave, x-ray, whatever) when focused on solid matter (even slightly) evaporate and ionize such matter in an instant. I.e. the energy density in such focus is much tighter, than in the heat generated by burning hydrogen. The beam-riding rocket will remain the rocket, it still will need to push from its own exhaust, but this will be much more energetic exhaust, comparing to hydrogen burners! Also, such rocket will be much lighter.
Driven by a high-power photon beam rocket will be composed of very light focusing mirrors, relatively small (energy efficient) solid propellant and, voila: the rest will be payload! Forget heavy liquefied gases (oxygen and hydrogen), cryogenics, fuel tanks and lines, combustion chambers, etc.: Payload, Propellant and Photons, Period! Arthur Kantrowitz, the founding father of laser propulsion, called it 4P Rule.
How much beamed energy is more efficient than traditional hydrogen burning? About hundred times! Currently, for reasons disclosed above we are paying $10,000 per pound of payload delivered from ground to low earth orbit only. If space launches will be done with high-power lasers, the price per pound of payload will fall to $100! This is 100-fold gain!
The most developed today branch of BEP is called laser propulsion, it is based on energy transfer with high-power laser beams. The next in development is microwave propulsion, followed by barely explored BEP with x-rays and particles. The number of in-lab demonstrations of BEP grows every year, and the time of actual demonstration of beam-driven space rocket is getting closer. No question, there is still a lot of work ahead on development of BEP systems, but one thing is clear, they have a great future. - 16752
About the Author:
Andrew Pakhomov is founder and president of American Institute of Beamed Energy Propulsion, a nonprofit scientific organization serving to development and popularization of this space technology of the future AIBEP He is also associate professor of physics at University of Alabama in Huntsville. To learn more about current state of beamed energy propulsion, please visit official site of AIBEP.
