5 ms·

How long would it take for a person to get to Mars with a sail powered by an Earth-based laser?

• lazide 1y ago
  Infinite time since we have no realistic way of making such a laser at this time - and anyone trying it is likely to get nuked before they finish their massive death ray.
  • kragen 1y ago
    Stipulate that we have the laser.
    • sigmoid10 1y ago
      Depends entirely on the power output of the laser, the dispersal length and the size, weight and reflectivity of the sail. Since we are already talking about imaginary technology, any answer between "slower than current chemical rockets" and "some significant fraction of the speed of light" could be valid.
      • kragen 1y ago
        I don't think that is correct. I think there's a rather disappointing limit on the acceleration a laser sail can reach with known materials.
        • sigmoid10 1y ago
          You explicitly asked for unknown materials. Because there is no known material because such a laser does not exist. We have solar sail prototypes that were using the sun's light, but even they are far off in terms of size/weight ratio and reflectivity.
          • lazide 1y ago
            If we’re just making stuff up, why not just have a warp drive or something?
          • kragen 1y ago
            No, I didn't ask for unknown materials; lasers can be built with known materials. Also solar sails aren't lightsails, and the topic here is lightsails.