The growth of the commercial space industry. It is generally agreed that we are living in a space age 2.0. Many innovative new ideas have been inspired by the challenge.
Mission planners and engineers are looking into the use of lasers to accelerate light sails to a fraction of the speed of light. A team from UCLA explained how a fleet of tiny probes with light sails could be used to explore the Solar System. The low-power laser array would be more cost-effective than similar concepts but would be much faster than conventional rockets.
The study was conducted by two people, one of which is the founder of the Davoyan Research Group. This group is dedicated to the study of directed energy and light-material interactions for the purpose of developing space photonics.
Scientists have looked at light sails as a possible means of space exploration. The advantages of these spaceships over conventional concepts is how they don't need propellant. propellant constitutes a big chunk of a spaceship's mass, which necessitates large storage tanks, and so on. It becomes a terrible burden where space travel is concerned.
It could take several thousand years to get to the nearest star system, Proxima Centauri. Light sail mission concepts are being explored as a means of travel. This includes projects such as Project Starshot, Project Dragonfly, and Project Lyra, which use a large array to propel their spaceships to travel at speeds greater than 100 mph.
Prof. Davoyan told Universe Today that these approaches can be used to explore the Solar System.
“Getting to other star systems is very hard due to astronomical distances. For example, the closest system is about 4 light years away from us. Reaching it with any conventional way of propulsion would require thousands of years. There are several different approaches that are considered to accelerate spaceflight: mainly fusion propulsion and directed energy, such as with the use of lasers.
“At the same time, even getting to the outer reaches of our solar system, such as to outer planets, the Kuiper belt, and entering the interstellar medium is very very challenging. It takes years of flight time and mission development. We discuss a new way of using beamed laser propulsion to send probes to outer planets.”
For the sake of their study, Ho-Ting and Davoyan considered various profiles with different degrees of size and laser power. The array ranged from 100 kiloWatts to 1 megaWatt. They calculated for probes ranging from 10 to 100 grams in mass. They imagined a wafer probe about 18 inches in diameter with integrated electronics on one side and a small structure on the other.
The Davoyan Research Group has areas of expertise. This is the science of how materials that are a few nanometers in scale interact with light, with applications ranging from broadband communications and photovoltaics to spacecraft propulsion. They found that a 100 kW array and sails of Silicon or Boron nitride would allow for cost-effective and rapid interplanetary missions. Said Davoyan.
“We show that our approach can be much faster than any other conventional propulsion system, such as electric and chemical propulsion. Voyager 1 is the fastest interplanetary spacecraft that was ever built. Traveling at about 17 km/s of cruise velocity it took ~45 years to reach 100 AU. Our system can be 4 times faster than that. Some conceptual approaches with nuclear propulsion with several gravity assists can be similarly fast.
The probes we discuss are low cost and are not constrained by the development time or launch window, which makes them more flexible. A new way of space exploration is possible because of the low cost and mass manufacturing that allows for easy access to deep space missions. We believe this will change space science.
There are many advantages to the ability to conduct low-cost missions. The record for the fastest object ever launched from Earth is held by the New Horizons mission. It took nine and a half years for the probe to reach the dwarf planet. The first and second missions, which were launched from Earth in 1977 and 2004, respectively, reached the edge of the Solar System.
A low-cost option that could get them to their destinations in a fraction of the time would give them the types of returns they were looking for. There will be many opportunities for missions in the coming years. Light sail probes could allow for more missions for the same cost, as well as making such missions faster and cheaper. Davoyan summarized:
“We believe that our approach could allow a new way for space missions, when the time it takes from an idea to getting science data back would take less than a year. This is not possible today. We foresee that many probes can be sent to different destinations, including Mars to collect science data and therefore accelerate discoveries.
“Today we have to choose between going to Enceladus, Europa or Titan. And then it takes decades and billions to develop a flagship mission. With probes that cost less than $1000 and can be developed in less than a month the space exploration can be changed dramatically.”
Light sail proposals are being considered for rendezvousing with Oumuamua, exploring the Solar System, and mounting missions to Alpha Centauri in a matter of decades instead of centuries. Sending crewed missions to Mars in a matter of weeks instead of months is being considered. These missions could be developed at a fraction of the cost with no chemical propellants weighing them down.
The creation of laser array throughout the Solar System could lead to a transportation infrastructure that spans the Solar System. Who knows? This vision could lead to humans becoming "Interplanetary" in terms of their habitation and exploration, as well as "Interplanetary" in terms of their exploration.
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