Powerful Laser Could Blast Spacecraft to Mars in 3 Days (Video)

Space.com ^ | February 23, 2016 | Shannon Hall

[Freeport]

It sounds like science fiction, but it's eminently possible, researchers say: Robotic spacecraft could get to Mars after a journey of just three days.

The key to making this happen is photon propulsion, which would use a powerful laser to accelerate spacecraft to relativistic speeds, said Philip Lubin, a physics professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

"There are recent advances which take this from science fiction to science reality," Lubin said at the 2015 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) fall symposium last October. "There's no known reason why we cannot do this."

Lubin and his team were awarded one of 15 Phase 1 NIAC grants last year, which gave them about $100,000 to perform initial studies of their project, known as Directed Energy Propulsion for Interstellar Exploration (DEEP-IN).

The list of 2015 Phase 1 NIAC awardees also includes a squidlike rover that could study the oceans of icy moons such as the Jovian satellite Europa, ball-like robots that could explore shadowed craters on Earth's moon and even a proposal to mine asteroids with the help of concentrated sunlight. The hope is that one or more of these technologies will have a huge impact on space science and exploration down the road.

[Freeport]

I always love these "We can get there in X days things. Yes, and the object can wave at Mars as it goes flying by since there's no equivalent system in Mars orbit, or the object of your choice orbit, TO SLOW IT DOWN! :-)

[samtheman]

Dont need to slow it down, just hop off and parachute in as you fly by.

:)

[Idaho_Cowboy]

Slowing it down is easy. It’s doing it and staying in once piece that is hard.

[mountn man]

Powerful Laser Could Blast Spacecraft to Mars in 3 Days

QUICK!!! Somebody tell Obama and the Wookie its Air Force One, taking them on another vacation.

Just think, 3 more days, no more Obama...

[Bringbackthedraft]

TO SLOW IT DOWN! ......Reverse rockets in the nose or tail? I thought the same thing, and the current velocity in liquid space formula may have to be revised some what.

[mountn man]

I always love these "We can get there in X days things. Yes, and the object can wave at Mars as it goes flying by since there's no equivalent system in Mars orbit, or the object of your choice orbit, TO SLOW IT DOWN! :-)

[driftdiver]

The sudden stop might be an issue.

[Wissa]

I always love these "We can get there in X days things. Yes, and the object can wave at Mars as it goes flying by since there's no equivalent system in Mars orbit, or the object of your choice orbit, TO SLOW IT DOWN! :-)

They can just step on the brakes.

[PIF]

3 days to Mars, 6 years to return ...

[IronJack]

I'm sure the mission planners at NASA (in between muslime outreach efforts) have the brains to calculate the retrograde burn necessary to insert the craft into orbit. The gravitational pull of the planet alone might be enough to capture a passing object if it was on the right trajectory and moving at the right speed.

Point is, this has probably occurred to them too.

[Bubba_Leroy]

It would make a heck of an impact when it lands.

[Bidimus1]

Torch ships are an old idea, but they only get thrust in 1 direction.

Ion Drive and Orion Drive (nuke external combustion engine) are also way to move at a high speed but can be used as breaking systems too.

Note the video says “no known reason we cant do this” of course this is not it has not been tested in the real world in the slightest. Mostly this is a pitch for funding and I guess trying to keep the “we can do it” view at NASA.

[alpo]

They better not mix meters and feet, as in a previous probe attempt, or it will make quite a splash.

[MNDude]

99% of science headlines with the word “Could” in them are utter fantasy.

Oceans COULD rise ten feet, etc.

[nascarnation]

That’s my phrase LOL

Salma Hayek COULD dump her billionaire husband and call me for a date.

[Jack Hammer]

So we can get Mark Watney his food resupply after all...?

[Night Hides Not]

The sudden stop might be an issue.

Particularly if the sudden start doesn't kill you.

[Bubba_Leroy]

Since this is all theoretical anyway, I suppose that theoretically if we first go to Mars by other means, we could build a station with a laser on Mars to slow the thing down. Then it could be used as a shuttle to go back and forth between Earth and Mars.

Of course, it has been almost 50 years since we first landed on the moon and we have not made a hellofalot of progress on a permanent moon station yet. Assuming the same rate of progress, get back to me in a couple of thousand years and we can discuss actually building the thing.

The only possible use in the meantime would be for sending unmanned probes outside of the solar system. You might be able to send a fly-by probe to Alpha Centauri similar to the Pluto New Horizons probe. Of course, it would be moving too fast to take any usable readings using current technology and it would then have to transmit the data 4 light years back to Earth. Get back to me in a couple hundred years and we can discuss building it.

[Yo-Yo]

Or blast an asteroid out of a collision course with the Earth.

[InterceptPoint]

I’m betting there is an E=1/2 mv2 problem here. Someone should calculate E=1/2 mc2 (Yes George, that is c squared not v squared) for a reasonable payload and see what you get.

It takes a lot of energy to get something going at near light speed.