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How about thinking in terms of solar rather than nuclear? I think space-based solar can have similar output to earth-based nuclear plants. Very expensive to bui
by danenania 3y ago
How about thinking in terms of solar rather than nuclear? I think space-based solar can have similar output to earth-based nuclear plants. Very expensive to build and launch, of course, and for terrestrial power there's the issue of getting the energy back to earth, but for a space-based laser it may be the best option?
And for the deceleration with a backward laser idea, could the initial sail store some percentage of the laser energy that's used to propel it, along with solar energy from the target system's star, and use that for the deceleration laser? I'm sure that's still prohibitive in terms of mass, but probably much better than nuclear or any other fuel-based option.
- shireboy 3y agoYeah, I was thinking space or moon based solar or solar + nuclear on this side. Why beam that energy down through atmosphere to earth, convert it to laser, then beam it back out? On destination side, I was thinking solar-powered (or whatever you call it when the star isn't Sol), but I like the idea of the sail storing laser energy (or would that break down - can a photon both impart momentum and have it's energy stored?) Your waves wouldn't have to be equal or limited to 2 waves : 1000 100MW wave 1 reverse-pushers could aim at slowing down 1 wave 2 probe, or a series of waves until wave N is slow enough to be caught by the star. Sounds like we're not slowing down at another star any time soon, but interesting to think about.