NASA to Beam Energy to Crafts in Space
Space boffins want to drive future craft by RAYGUN
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| Space lasers – Wiki image |
Brid-Aine Parnell
The Register
NASA boffins are looking into making a science-fiction staple – the idea of transmitting power to spacecraft using lasers or microwaves – into reality.
Sending enough energy to replace commonly-used present day space propulsion via laser beam would be quite a feat. One of the most powerful lasers in the world that’s capable of keeping a beam going for any length of time – Boeing’s Airborne Laser Test Bed – can put out only a few megawatts of juice, but (according to El Reg’s back-of-a-pint-coaster calculations) it takes about 190 gigawatts to power the first stage of a Saturn V rocket and 4.1GW to make a single Delta IV core rocket go.
But NASA is undeterred and, after giving the project the snazzy name of Ride the Light, has dished out around $3 million to a number of companies to investigate using beamed power by lasers and microwave energy.
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