Reducing solar sail escape times from Earth orbit using beamed energy

Benford, Gregory; Nissenson, Paul Morrow

doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2005.09.009

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Benford and Nissenson [19] solved this problem by showing that a ground-based or orbiting transmitter can impart energy to a satellite if they have resonant paths, i.e., the beam source and satellite come near each other (either with the satellite overhead an Earth-based transmitter or the satellite in nearby orbit in space) after a certain number of orbital periods. For resonance to occur, the perigee must line up with the transmitter position, meaning that specific energies must be given to the satellite at each boost.…”

Section: B Orbit Raisingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Space Applications of High-Power Microwaves

Benford¹

2008

IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci.

129

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Schemes have been suggested for transferring energy from Earth-to-space, space-to-Earth, and space-to-space using high-power microwave (HPM) beams. All use power beaming. Microwave beams have been studied for propelling spacecraft for launch to orbit, orbit raising, launch from orbit into interplanetary and interstellar space, and deployment of large space structures. The microwave thermal rocket, called the "microwave thermal thruster," is a reusable single-stage vehicle that uses an HPM beam to provide power to a heat-exchanger propulsion system, with double the specific impulse of conventional rockets. Orbital missions include orbit raising and space solar power. Microwave-propelled sails are a new class of spacecraft that promises to revolutionize future space probes. Experiments and simulations have verified that sails riding beams can be stable on the beam for conical sail shapes. Beam-driven sail flights have now demonstrated the basic features of the beam-driven propulsion. Beams can also carry angular momentum and communicate it to a sail to help control it in flight. An early mission for microwave space propulsion is dramatically shortening the time needed for sails to escape Earth's orbit. A number of missions for beamdriven sails have been quantified for high-velocity mapping of the outer solar system, Kuiper Belt, the Heliopause, and the penultimate interstellar precursor mission. For large HPM systems at fixed effective isotropic radiated power, minimum capital cost is achieved when the cost is equally divided between antenna gain and radiated power. This is a driver when considering design of power-beaming systems such as interstellar Beacons, which the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence is searching for. Much of the technical means for these applications are already in hand. Microwave and millimeter-wave array antennas are already in use for astronomy; sources at high frequencies are being developed for fusion and the military. Development of high-power arrays is needed. A synergistic way to develop a space power-beaming infrastructure is incremental buildup, addressing lower power applications first, and then upgrading.Index Terms-Microwave antenna arrays, microwave oscillators, microwave power amplifiers, microwave power transmission, Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), space solar power (SSP), space-vehicle propulsion.

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Section: B Orbit Raisingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sail is not to scale. (b) Altitude normalized to initial altitude in units of Earth radius versus time[19].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Space Applications of High-Power Microwaves

Benford¹

2008

IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci.

129

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“…The thermal desorption was suggested as a propulsion method in [4,8,9]. The original idea of Benford and Benford was to use a microwave beam to heat a solar sail until its surface coat sublimes or desorbs.…”

Section: Thermal Desorption As a Propulsion Mechanismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…James and Gregory Benford took experiments on ultralight sails in carbon and found out that photon pressure can account for 3 to 30% of the observed acceleration, while the remainder comes from desorption of embed-ded molecules [4]. Therefore, here is the extraordinary potential of this sort of propulsion mechanism: if sapiently used, desorption could enhance thrust by many orders of magnitude, shortening the escape time to weeks, instead of years for conventional solar sails [8].…”

Section: Thermal Desorption As a Propulsion Mechanismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Orbital dynamics of a solar sail accelerated by thermal desorption of coatings

Ancona,

Kezerashvili

2016

Preprint

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In this study we considered a solar sail coated with materials that undergo thermal desorption at a specific temperature, as a result of heating by solar radiation at a particular heliocentric distance. Three different scenarios, that only differ in the way the sail approaches the Sun, were analyzed and compared. In every case once the perihelion is reached, the sail coat undergoes thermal desorption. When the desorption process ends, the sail then escapes the Solar System having the conventional acceleration due to solar radiation pressure. Thermal desorption here comes as an additional source of solar sail acceleration beside traditional propulsion systems for extrasolar space exploration. The compared scenarios are the following: i. Hohmann transfer plus thermal desorption. In this scenario the sail would be carried as a payload to the perihelion with a conventional propulsion system by an Hohmann transfer from Earth's orbit to an orbit very close to the Sun (almost at 0.1 AU) and then be deployed there. ii. Elliptical transfer plus Slingshot plus thermal desorption. In this scenario the transfer occurs from Earth's orbit to Jupiter's orbit. A Jupiter's fly-by leads to the orbit close to the Sun, where the sail is deployed. iii. Two stage acceleration of the solar sail through thermal desorption. The proposed sail has two coats of the materials that undergo thermal desorption at different temperatures depending on the heliocentric distance. The first desorption occurs at the Earth orbit and provides the thrust needed to propel the solar sail toward the Sun. The second desorption is equivalent to that of the other scenarios.

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“…A ground-based or orbiting transmitter can impart energy to a satellite if they have resonant paths (Benford & Nissenson 2006); that is, the power beam source and satellite come near each other, either by waiting for the satellite to be overhead of the ground transmitter, or for both to be nearby while in orbit in space). When resonance occurs, an amount of energy specific to that particular conjunction is radiated to the satellite.…”

Section: Orbit Raisingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Power Beaming Leakage Radiation as a Seti Observable

Benford

2016

ApJ

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The most observable leakage radiation from an advanced civilization may well be from the use of power beaming to transfer energy and accelerate spacecraft. Applications suggested for power beaming involve launching spacecraft to orbit, raising satellites to a higher orbit, and interplanetary concepts involving space-to-space transfers of cargo or passengers. We also quantify beam-driven launch to the outer solar system, interstellar precursors, and ultimately starships. We estimate the principal observable parameters of power beaming leakage. Extraterrestrial civilizations would know their power beams could be observed, and so could put a message on the power beam and broadcast it for our receipt at little additional energy or cost. By observing leakage from power beams we may find a message embedded on the beam. Recent observations of the anomalous star KIC 8462852 by the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) set some limits on extraterrestrial power beaming in that system. We show that most power beaming applications commensurate with those suggested for our solar system would be detectable if using the frequency range monitored by the ATA, and so the lack of detection is a meaningful, if modest, constraint on extraterrestrial power beaming in that system. Until more extensive observations are made, the limited observation time and frequency coverage are not sufficiently broad in frequency and duration to produce firm conclusions. Such beams would be visible over large interstellar distances. This implies a new approach to the SETI search: instead of focusing on narrowband beacon transmissions generated by another civilization, look for more powerful beams with much wider bandwidth. This requires a new approach for their discovery by telescopes on Earth. Further studies of power beaming applications should be performed, potentially broadening the parameter space of the observable features that we have discussed here.

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Reducing solar sail escape times from Earth orbit using beamed energy

Cited by 7 publications

References 8 publications

Space Applications of High-Power Microwaves

Space Applications of High-Power Microwaves

Orbital dynamics of a solar sail accelerated by thermal desorption of coatings

Power Beaming Leakage Radiation as a Seti Observable

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