Advanced beamed-energy and field propulsion concepts

[drejr]

Very interesting NASA document from 1983:

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19850024873

 

[Brett Davidson]

Interesting. A lot of the less mathematical content - particularly the illustrations - found its way into this book a couple of years later:

https://www.amazon.com/Future-Flight-Luke-Myrabo/dp/0671559419
Leik Myrabo went on to further refine the 'lightcraft' concept, but things seemed to have stopped with his retirement in 2011.

 

[drejr]

By interesting I meant the battlecruiser towards the back.

 

[quellish]

Interesting. A lot of the less mathematical content - particularly the illustrations - found its way into this book a couple of years later:

https://www.amazon.com/Future-Flight-Luke-Myrabo/dp/0671559419
Leik Myrabo went on to further refine the 'lightcraft' concept, but things seemed to have stopped with his retirement in 2011.

JASON did an interesting summer study on laser propulsion.

 

[Dilandu]

By interesting I meant the battlecruiser towards the back.

Yep. Basically it was attempt to analyze "if we would need a space battlecruiser, what could we do and what should be done?" Quite interesting, must point out!

 

[Arjen]

By interesting I meant the battlecruiser towards the back.

Page 431 of 525:

 

[Doc_Roswell]

Very interesting doc, it also has the following very intriguing images, all looking very much like "saucer" and cigar" shaped UFOs/UAPs as reported by military pilots. Space-Based lasers were being developed with huge funding in this period as part of SDI, so a transportation-based offshoot is reasonably understandable. But the author(s) at BDM also surely knew exactly what they were doing by making their Shuttlecraft designs in the shape of archetypal "discs" and "cigars".

Of course, TRW bought BDM in 1997, then was itself bought by NG in 2002. TRW did a lot of super-cutting edge work for various US space programs, including the Space-Based Neutral Particle Beam (SBNPB) weapon system developed as part of the SDI program. They also built the Chandra X-ray Telescope, launched 1999, another marvel of engineering. In the case of this 1983 CalTech/JPL-sponsored study all designs are powered by laser connection to an external energy source. But if any of these designs could incorporate their own power supply, they could presumably fly on their own using electric principles alone.

I am incorporating many of these figures into a "visual guide to exotic aerospace" book project I am currently working on, but I wanted to also share a few of the choice highlights that are particularly exotic, besides the aforementioned "Manned Space Battle Cruiser" featured in Chapter 14.

- Launch Facility for Laser-Powered Shuttles
- Scaling of Radial Shuttlecraft Configurations (!)
- Schematic Diagram of Lighter-Than-Air Electrostatically Propelled Vehicle
- Schematic Diagram of Interplanetary Carrier (!)
- Aerodynamic Lift Mode [Cylindrical Shuttlecraft / "Cigar" type] (!)
- [Internal Radiation-Heated] IRH Pulsejet Mode [for Cylindrical Shuttlecraft]
- Atmospheric Charging Concepts
- Engine/Optical/Airframe Configuration for Cylindrical Shuttlecraft
- Endoatmospheric Electrostatic Propulsion Concept
- Flight Maneuverability and Control for Cylindrical Shuttlecraft

Edit: spelling

 

[publiusr]

Breakthrough Starshot might be as good as it ever gets.

 

[publiusr]

Just in today at phys.org:

"Scalable nanotechnology-based light sails developed for next generation space exploration."
https://phys.org/news/2025-03-scalable-nanotechnology-based-lightsails-generation.html
"Researchers unveil unidirectional light focusing using diffractive optics."
https://phys.org/news/2025-03-unveil-unidirectional-focusing-diffractive-optics.html
"Electrochemical process that uses carbon dioxide to produce oxygen could be used in space "
https://phys.org/news/2025-03-electrochemical-carbon-dioxide-oxygen-space.html

 

[NERVA]

Very interesting doc, it also has the following very intriguing images, all looking very much like "saucer" and cigar" shaped UFOs/UAPs as reported by military pilots. Space-Based lasers were being developed with huge funding in this period as part of SDI, so a transportation-based offshoot is reasonably understandable. But the author(s) at BDM also surely knew exactly what they were doing by making their Shuttlecraft designs in the shape of archetypal "discs" and "cigars".

Of course, TRW bought BDM in 1997, then was itself bought by NG in 2002. TRW did a lot of super-cutting edge work for various US space programs, including the Space-Based Neutral Particle Beam (SBNPB) weapon system developed as part of the SDI program. They also built the Chandra X-ray Telescope, launched 1999, another marvel of engineering. In the case of this 1983 CalTech/JPL-sponsored study all designs are powered by laser connection to an external energy source. But if any of these designs could incorporate their own power supply, they could presumably fly on their own using electric principles alone.

I am incorporating many of these figures into a "visual guide to exotic aerospace" book project I am currently working on, but I wanted to also share a few of the choice highlights that are particularly exotic, besides the aforementioned "Manned Space Battle Cruiser" featured in Chapter 14.

- Launch Facility for Laser-Powered Shuttles
- Scaling of Radial Shuttlecraft Configurations (!)
- Schematic Diagram of Lighter-Than-Air Electrostatically Propelled Vehicle
- Schematic Diagram of Interplanetary Carrier (!)
- Aerodynamic Lift Mode [Cylindrical Shuttlecraft / "Cigar" type] (!)
- [Internal Radiation-Heated] IRH Pulsejet Mode [for Cylindrical Shuttlecraft]
- Atmospheric Charging Concepts
- Engine/Optical/Airframe Configuration for Cylindrical Shuttlecraft
- Endoatmospheric Electrostatic Propulsion Concept
- Flight Maneuverability and Control for Cylindrical Shuttlecraft

Edit: spelling

Please put me down for the book, when you publish it.

Thank you.

 

[publiusr]

Orbital constraints limit how things can maneuver in space.

Some time ago, I posted a link to very lightweight materials that could be lofted with light alone.

The drawback to a sky cursor is atmospheric drag.

But what if a super lightweight object were lofted to space--with a powerful laser in an aircraft far below pushing it?

The aircraft can turn all it likes--pushing the light craft in the path of a satellite?

The tiny light craft is a shuttlecock--and at orbital speeds the target supplies the energy needed for its own distraction simply by hitting the lightweight craft.

A mirrored, rotating craft immune to the laser itself can still be struck--just by proxy.

Laser Lacrosse