Microwave Rocket is a beamed energy propulsion system that is expected to reach space at drastically lower cost. This cost reduction is estimated by replacing the first-stage engine and solid rocket boosters of the Japanese H-IIB rocket with Microwave Rocket, using a recently developed thrust model in which thrust is generated through repetitively pulsed microwave detonation with a reed-valve air-breathing system. Results show that Microwave Rocket trajectory, in terms of velocity versus altitude, can be designed similarly to the current H-IIB first stage trajectory. Moreover, the payload ratio can be increased by 450%, resulting in launch-cost reduction of 74%.

Atmospheric millimeter-wave discharge at intensity on the order of 1 GW/m2, which is lower than the critical intensity for breakdown by one order, was computed numerically using a tuning parameter to reproduce a wavelength-scale discrete plasmoid structure in a propagating ionization front observed in experiments. In this structure, the plasmoids line up along the E field of the incident beam in the same pitch of 0.9λ. Computational results showed that the structure appears when the electron number density in the plasmoid is greater than the cutoff density of 2.5 × 1020/m3. Interference among an incident wave and reflection waves from a plasmoids produces fringes around the plasmoid. Neighboring plasmoids come to the enhanced point, which is placed at a distance of 0.9λ from the plasmoid center. This knowledge related to the structure is expected to be correct irrespective of the plasma modeling because the revealed forming mechanism is dependent only on the geometrical interference between the incident and reflection.

Gas breakdown in the millimetre-wave frequency band is an interesting phenomenon in nonlinear dynamics such as self-organized structure formation. We observed the transition between two types of filamentary plasma arrays in air discharge driven by a 303-GHz millimetre wave. Plasma is ignited at a parabolic mirror’s focal point in the overcritical condition. One array parallel to the electric field vector appears with a spacing of λ/4 at the focal point. Filaments then separate into plasma lumps ~10 μs after ignition. At 20 μs, a new comb-shaped array grows in the subcritical condition. Filaments are parallel to the incident beam with spacing of 0.96 λ and elongate towards the incident beam. This comb-shaped array appears only in the electric field plane; bulk plasma with a sharp vertex forms in the magnetic field plane. This array is created by a standing wave structure generated by waves diffracted from the plasma surface. Filamentary plasma array formations can influence the energy absorption by the plasma, which is important for engineering applications such as beamed energy propulsion.

The objective was to investigate the clinical course of ocular damage and the healing process in eyes exposed to 162 GHz millimeter wave (MMW). As a 162-GHz electromagnetic wave source, a gyrotron FU CW GV was used. An ocular damaged rabbit model with good reproducibility for 162 GHz MMW exposure was developed, and damage occurrence threshold values were obtained. The right eyes of pigmented rabbits were exposed to 162 GHz from a spot-focus-type lens antenna, and the non-exposed contralateral eyes were used as control eyes. Slit-lamp examination 1 day after MMW exposure revealed a round area of opacity, characterized by fluorescein staining indicating damaged epithelial cells in the central pupillary zone. Corneal edema, indicative of corneal stromal damage, peaked 2-3 days after exposure, with thickness gradually subsiding to normal by 9 days after exposure. Power densities of 162 GHz MMW causing ocular damage with probabilities of 10, 50, and 90% obtained by probit analysis were 173, 252, and 368 mW/cm 2 , respectively.

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