Scientist Reveals Propulsion Technology That Could Blast Probe To Mars In 30 Minutes

Headlines & Global News ^ | February 29, 2016 | Chris Loterina

[2ndDivisionVet]

The travel time from Earth to Mars using current space flight technologies is estimated to be 9 months.

Last week, an innovative concept was proposed which claims to reduce the time that will be spent for Mars travel to merely three days through so-called photonic propulsion technology. But a new proposal threatens to radically shorten this period to an astounding 30 minutes.

The idea was revealed by Phillip Lubin, who is a physics professor at the University of California Santa Barbara. Lubin was also responsible for the photonic propulsion technology proposal. This time, however, he identified the use of high-powered lasers to propel wafer-thin spacecrafts to the Red Planet faster than the speed of light. Lubin wrote in an email to Headlines and Global News that using a "directed energy propulsion," which involved firing laser at a spacecraft, can revolutionize space travel because it will lead to the achievement of frictionless acceleration.

"As an example, on the eventual upper end, a full-scale (50-70 GW) DE-STAR 4 - Directed Energy System for Targeting of Asteroids and Exploration - will propel a wafer scale spacecraft with a one meter sail to about 26 percent the speed of light in about 10 minutes," Lubin was quoted as saying in a Daily Mail report. "[It would] reach Mars (1 AU) in 30 minutes, pass Voyager 1 in less than 3 days, pass 1,000 AU in 12 days and reach Alpha Centauri in about 15 years."

As a proposed precursor to interstellar travel, Lubin's concept has been met with a bit of skepticism due to some perceived flaws. For example, there is the question about deceleration once the low-mass probe approaches Mars, according to an email from Lubin. There is also a concern about space junk, which could hinder the spacecraft's progress or even pose serious harm to the vessel itself. Finally, some experts cite the issue of time dilation, a concept demonstrated in the film "Interstellar." Here, time slows down for the spacecraft as it passes a wormhole, according to Digital Trends. This means that while space travel takes 30 minutes, it could equal a decade here on Earth.

Lubin states that his proposal is still a concept and will be refined further in the future. For more information, the physicist has published his laser propulsion proposal in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society.

[Mr. K]

If they could make it a 30 minute ride I would volunteer - absolutely

[Mr. K]

duh... you bring a flashlight with you!

silly...

[DiogenesLamp]

The design is real but the author is a nitwit.

That was my first thought as well. It was that "faster than the speed of light" thing that just shows either sloppy writing, or sloppy understanding.

[ronnietherocket3]

wafer-thin spacecrafts

So you would get a computer to the destination, but nothing else.

faster than the speed of light

No, just no. The author should have run the article by someone with a degree in physics. This is not a proposal to get to the destination faster than the speed of light. Physics (at present) has stated this is impossible. In addition, one could not use light to propel something faster than light. Once the object has reached light speed, there would be no momentum transfer from light to the object.

As an example, on the eventual upper end, a full-scale (50-70 GW) DE-STAR 4

While not a stupid concept, DE-STAR is just a proposal. Also a 50GW laser is huge.

This means that while space travel takes 30 minutes, it could equal a decade here on Earth.

The proposal is to fly an object from Earth to Mars in 30 minutes. Whatever relativistic time scale that is in, it would take less than 9 months on Earth as that is the current amount of time.

[PIF]

And who puts that slow down laser on Mars in the first place?

Passenger pancake get’em now before they are all gone ...

[PIF]

And at 100 g or better the drain would pour you out of the capsule.

[Pollster1]

“Message reads: 'Houston, be advised: Phillip Lubin is a steely-eyed missile man.”
― Andy Weir, The Martian (edited)

[Pontiac]

“As a proposed precursor to interstellar travel, Lubin's concept has been met with a bit of skepticism due to some perceived flaws. For example, there is the question about deceleration once the low-mass probe approaches Mars

What good does it do you to get to Mars in 30 minutes if you are going to just sail right on by?

Lasers may be able to accelerate you to 25% of the speed of light but there is no laser on Mars to slow you down and no rocket on the spacecraft is going to do the job.

[LibWhacker]

propel wafer-thin spacecrafts to the Red Planet faster than the speed of light...

Discredits the entire article. Either the UC physics professor doesn't know what he's talking about (not likely), or the author doesn't, and nothing he says can be trusted.

[Mr. K]

OK, who can do the math here-

if you were able to do a constant acceleration of say 1.5G, until you were half way there, then turn around and do 1.5g the opposite way to slow down, how long would it take to go to mars?

[blackdog]

*Wafer thin Domino’s pizza deliver to Mars is now possible!”

[MeganC]

I think the reporter is making that up.

[JoeProBono]

[blackdog]

"if you were able to do a constant acceleration of say 1.5G, until you were half way there, then turn around and do 1.5g the opposite way to slow down, how long would it take to go to mars?"

I would need to know what time a train leaving from San Francisco at 63MPH passed thru Altoona with a ten minute stop in Newark intersected overhead, and of course that intersecting groundspeed to answer that question?

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

Bob434 :" how do they know something is faster than light if there is no light to see if it is faster or not? "

Hitting space debris at 1/4 the speed of light
might be construed as "Terminal Velocity"

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

“Captain Midnight “ ??

[Larry Lucido]

Might get cold, but the heat from entry into Mars' atmosphere will warm it back up!

[shibumi]

“Flash Gordon, Rocket Ship” - 1936

[ctdonath2]

“propel wafer-thin spacecrafts to the Red Planet faster than the speed of light.”

Aaaaand, sane people stop reading right there.

[reg45]

No, “Flash Gordon”