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Beam-powered propulsion
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==Direct impulse== A beam could also provide impulse by directly "pushing" on the sail. One example is using a [[solar sail]] to reflect a laser beam. This concept, called a ''laser-pushed lightsail,'' was initially proposed by G. Marx<ref>G. Marx, "Interstellar Vehicle Propelled by Laser Beam," ''Nature, Vol. 211'', July 1966, pp. 22-23.</ref> but first analyzed in detail, and elaborated on, by physicist [[Robert L. Forward]] in 1989<ref name="Forward1989">R. L. Forward, "Roundtrip Interstellar Travel Using Laser-Pushed lightsails," ''J. Spacecraft and Rockets, Vol. 21'', pp 187-195 (Mar-Apr. 1989)</ref> as a method of [[interstellar travel]] that would avoid extremely high [[mass ratio]]s by not carrying fuel. Further analysis of the concept was done by [[Geoffrey A. Landis|Landis]],<ref name= "landis1989">G. A. Landis, "Optics and Materials Considerations for a Laser-Propelled Lightsail", paper IAA-89-664, the 40th International Astronautical Federation Congress, Málaga, Spain, Oct. 7-12, 1989 ([https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19900026613 abstract])([http://www.geoffreylandis.com/lightsail/Lightsail89.html full paper])</ref><ref name= "Landis 1997">G. A. Landis, "Small Laser-Pushed Lightsail Interstellar Probe: A Study of Parameter Variations", ''J. [[British Interplanetary Society]], Vol. 50'', No. 4, pp. 149-154 (1997); Paper IAA-95-4.1.1.02,</ref> Mallove and Matloff,<ref>{{cite book | author = Eugene Mallove| author2 = Gregory Matloff | name-list-style = amp| title=The Starflight Handbook | url = https://archive.org/details/starflighthandbo0000mall| url-access = registration| publisher = John Wiley & Sons, Inc. | date = 1989 | isbn = 978-0-471-61912-3 }}</ref> [[Dana Andrews|Andrews]]<ref name="Andrews 1994 pp. 357–365">{{cite journal | last=Andrews | first=Dana G. | title=Cost considerations for interstellar missions | journal=Acta Astronautica | publisher=Elsevier BV | volume=34 | year=1994 | issn=0094-5765 | doi=10.1016/0094-5765(94)90272-0 | pages=357–365| bibcode=1994AcAau..34..357A }}<!-- IAA-93-706 --></ref> Lubin,<ref>P. Lubin, ''et al'', "[https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/stat_fac/54/ Directed Energy For Relativistic Propulsion and Interstellar Communications]," ''J. British Interplanetary Soc., Vol. 68,'' No. 5/6, May, 2015, pp. 172.</ref> and others. Forward proposed pushing a sail with a microwave beam in a later paper.<ref name="forward1985">{{cite journal | last=Forward | first=Robert L. | title=Starwisp - An ultra-light interstellar probe | journal=Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets | publisher=American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) | volume=22 | issue=3 | year=1985 | issn=0022-4650 | doi=10.2514/3.25754 | pages=345–350| bibcode=1985JSpRo..22..345F }}</ref> This has the advantage that the sail need not be a continuous surface. Forward tagged his proposal for an ultralight sail "[[Starwisp]]". A later analysis by Landis<ref>G. A. Landis, "[https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/6.2000-3337 Microwave Pushed Interstellar Sail: Starwisp Revisited"], paper AIAA-2000-3337, 36th Joint Propulsion Conference, Huntsville AL, July 17–19, 2000. ({{Cite web |url=http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=165 |title=American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics - Meeting Papers |access-date=2007-02-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070217034129/http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=165 |archive-date=2007-02-17 |url-status=dead }})</ref> suggested that the Starwisp concept as initially proposed by Forward would not work, but variations on the proposal might be implemented. The beam has to have a large diameter so that only a small portion of the beam misses the sail due to [[diffraction]], and the laser or microwave antenna has to have good pointing stability so that the craft can tilt its sails fast enough to follow the center of the beam. This gets more important when going from [[interplanetary travel]] to [[interstellar travel]] and when going from a fly-by mission to a landing mission to a return mission. The laser or the microwave sender would probably be a large [[phased array]] of small devices that get their energy directly from solar radiation. The size of the array negates the need for a lens or mirror. Another beam-pushed concept would be to use a [[magnetic sail]] or [[mini-magnetospheric plasma propulsion|MMPP sail]] to divert a beam of charged particles from a [[particle accelerator]] or [[plasma (physics)|plasma]] jet.<ref>{{Cite web |first=Paul |last=Gilster |url=https://www.centauri-dreams.org/2005/04/18/interstellar-flight-by-particle-beam-revisited/ |title=Interstellar Flight by Particle Beam Revisited |date=April 18, 2005 |work=Centauri Dreams}}</ref> Landis proposed a particle beam pushed sail in 1989,<ref name= "landis1989" /> and analyzed in more detail in a 2004 paper.<ref>G. A. Landis, "Interstellar Flight by Particle Beam," ''Acta Astronautica, Vol 55'', No. 11, 931-934 (Dec. 2004).</ref> [[Jordin Kare]] has proposed a variant to this whereby a "beam" of small laser accelerated light sails would transfer momentum to a magsail vehicle.<ref>J. T. Kare, ''[http://www.niac.usra.edu/files/studies/final_report/597Kare.pdf High-acceleration Micro-scale Laser Sails for Interstellar Propulsion]'', Final Report, NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts, 31 December 2001</ref> === Mass beam systems === Another beam-pushed concept uses pellets or projectiles of ordinary matter. A stream of pellets from a stationary mass-driver is "reflected" by the spacecraft, cf. [[Mass driver#Hybrid mass drivers|mass driver]].<ref>{{Cite web |first=Paul |last=Gilster |url=https://www.centauri-dreams.org/2014/07/16/smart-pellets-and-interstellar-propulsion/ |title='Smart Pellets' and Interstellar Propulsion|work=Centauri Dreams |date=July 16, 2014}}</ref> The spacecraft neither needs energy nor reaction mass for propulsion of its own. For craft at sub-relativistic velocities, mass beams would be more efficient than photon beams. Nordley and Crowl point out, "A photon must travel at the speed of light and until relativistic velocities are reached, a reflected photon carries away almost as much energy as it started with. A massive particle’s velocity, however, can be tuned so that the reflected mass is left almost dead in space relative to the beam generators, having surrendered almost all of its kinetic energy to the starship."<ref>{{Cite web |title=(PDF) Mass beam propulsion, an overview |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303682465_Mass_beam_propulsion_an_overview |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20230307141056/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303682465_Mass_beam_propulsion_an_overview |archive-date=2023-03-07 |access-date=2025-01-17 |website=ResearchGate |language=en}}</ref>
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