Trajectory of spacecraft with photonic laser propulsion in the two-body problem

Hsiao, Fu-Yuen; Wang, Tai-Hang; Lee, Chi-Cheng; Yang, Pin-Chu; Wei, Hung-Chu; Tsai, Ping-Yen

doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2012.11.006

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 5 publications

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“…In reality, the relatively small force from the laser beam coupled with the rapid divergence of the beam over the interplanetary distance scales in which the laser operates plus the restrictions on possible thrust directions yields a far more complicated system with Δ v being replaced by a new set of limiting factors. A two-body analysis as done in [4] may provide a helpful first look into a highly simplified system. When the presence of the Earth and Sun is to be fully considered, the use of numerical simulations becomes the only option to properly analyze the effectiveness and understand the behavior of these laser-propelled systems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Orbital simulations of laser-propelled spacecraft

et al. 2015

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Spacecraft accelerate by directing propellant in the opposite direction. In the traditional approach, the propellant is carried onboard in the form of material fuel. This approach has the drawback of being limited in Delta v by the amount of fuel launched with the craft, a limit that does not scale well to high Delta v due to the massive nature of the fuel. Directed energy photon propulsion solves this problem by eliminating the storage of fuel onboard. A phased array of lasers may be used to propel the spacecraft, contributing no mass to the spacecraft beyond that of the reflector, enabling a prolonged acceleration and much higher final speeds. This paper compares the effectiveness of such a system for propelling spacecraft into interplanetary and interstellar space across various laser and sail configurations. Simulated parameters include laser power, optics size and orbit as well as payload mass, reflector size and the trajectory of the spacecraft. As one example, a large 70 GW laser with 10 km optics could propel a 1 kg payload past Neptune (~30 au) in 5 days at 4% the speed of light, or a 1 g payload past Mars (~0.5 au) in 20 minutes at 21% the speed of light. However, even lasers down to 2 kW power and 1 m optics show noticeable effect on gram-class payloads, boosting their altitude in low Earth orbits by several kilometers per day which is already sufficient to be of practical use.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Orbital simulations of laser-propelled spacecraft

et al. 2015

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Photonic Laser Thruster: Optomechanical and Quantum Electronical Analyses

Bae

2022

Journal of Propulsion and Power

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Variation of Osculating Orbit Elements Using Low-Thrust Photonic Laser Propulsion in the Two-Body Problem

Hsiao

2022

Aerospace

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This study investigated the variation of the osculating orbit elements of a spacecraft propelled by photonic laser propulsion (PLP) under the two-body problem assumption. The PLP thrusting system can produce continuous and constant thrust. This paper first reviewed its basics and then studied its influences on the variation of osculating orbit elements given a small PLP thrust. Gauss’s equations, perturbation theory, and normalization were introduced to investigate this problem. Our work approached the problem by studying the influences of small planar and out-of-plane PLP thrusts, respectively. Bounds on the variation of orbit elements were derived, and a sufficient condition that traps the mission spacecraft in the vicinity of the mother ship was also found. Numerical simulations are also presented to verify our results, including the bounds and the sufficient conditions. The results obtained in this paper are directly applicable to the usage of PLP thrust, a new type of thrusting system, in the future, and are potentially helpful to various space missions, especially interplanetary travel.

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Trajectory of spacecraft with photonic laser propulsion in the two-body problem

Cited by 3 publications

References 5 publications

Orbital simulations of laser-propelled spacecraft

Orbital simulations of laser-propelled spacecraft

Photonic Laser Thruster: Optomechanical and Quantum Electronical Analyses

Variation of Osculating Orbit Elements Using Low-Thrust Photonic Laser Propulsion in the Two-Body Problem

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