Photon Rockets Might Make Mars A Three Minute Trip

[kevindavis007]

Planck photon rocket drives --- which in theory could hit velocities equal to 99.999 percent the speed of light --- might eventually offer propulsion engineers a way to drastically reduce interstellar travel times without trashing the laws of physics as we currently understand them. A hypothetical photon rocket’s directional thrust would come from photons (or electromagnetic radiation in the form of light) and turn a one-way journey to Mars into a three-minute and four second trip.


In a forthcoming paper in the journal Acta Astronautica, a Norwegian professor argues that the theoretical ultimate speed limit of any spacecraft falls just below lightspeed in a vacuum, or 186,282 miles per second   But that's also still considerably beyond the limits of what can currently be achieved in today's particle accelerators.


“The fuel is converted into light which leads to radiation pressure that drives the rocket forward ,” said Haug, who teaches quantitative finance at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. He admits that’s an unconventional background for rocket science but says a lot of the math used in contemporary physics directly overlaps with finance option theory, so photon rockets are not that much of a stretch.


Read More: http://www.isn-news.net/2017/03/photon-rockets-might-make-mars-three.html

[kevindavis007]

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[Cripplecreek]

Mag lights in space.

[Idiot]

But will it have brakes...lol.

[ABX]

But will it have brakes...lol.

There really is a problem that most science journalists don't think about. They think in terms of maximum speed and distance traveled.

For example (and I'm pulling these numbers out of my ass so feel free to correct me; I can't remember where I heard them, probably from some sci fi book): If something is entering our solar system at 1/5th the speed of light, it would have to start decelerating well outside Neptune in order to come close to stopping at Earth without destroying itself. That time of deceleration would take years from entering the solar system to arriving at Earth.

[kevindavis007]

But will it have brakes...lol.

That is going to be a problem.. The brake part.. We can go fast, but we need to slow down..

[Cripplecreek]

There really is a problem that most science journalists don't think about. They think in terms of maximum speed and distance traveled.

For example (and I'm pulling these numbers out of my ass so feel free to correct me; I can't remember where I heard them, probably from some sci fi book): If something is entering our solar system at 1/5th the speed of light, it would have to start decelerating well outside Neptune in order to come close to stopping at Earth without destroying itself. That time of deceleration would take years from entering the solar system to arriving at Earth.

Yeah I was thinking a trip of days or weeks to mars would be better if you don't have some kind of means of manipulating mass and inertia. Just the acceleration alone would kill everyone on a ship that could get to mars in 3 minutes.

On a 3 week trip to mars you could accelerate for a week and a half simulating gravity then turn and burn to slow down also simulating gravity.

[geronl]

We would completely own the solar system lock, stock and barrel. No high officials would be dumb enough to give away mineral rights to Jupiter or something out of the awe of meeting aliens.

sort of like:

https://www.amazon.com/First-Contract-Greg-Costikyan/dp/0312873964

[geronl]

There really is a problem that most science journalists don't think about. They think in terms of maximum speed and distance traveled.

For example (and I'm pulling these numbers out of my ass so feel free to correct me; I can't remember where I heard them, probably from some sci fi book): If something is entering our solar system at 1/5th the speed of light, it would have to start decelerating well outside Neptune in order to come close to stopping at Earth without destroying itself. That time of deceleration would take years from entering the solar system to arriving at Earth.

In my Work In Progress it takes nearly a year to arrive after entering the system and it wasn't going nearly that fast.

[Doug Loss]

Sorry, but I call fake to this whole idea.  Mars and Earth are more than three minutes apart at light speed, as shown by the well-known communications delays (minimum 4 minutes, maximum 24 minutes).  And that doesn't even mention the requirements of acceleration/deceleration.

[Idaho_Cowboy]

There really is a problem that most science journalists don't think about. They think in terms of maximum speed and distance traveled.

For example (and I'm pulling these numbers out of my ass so feel free to correct me; I can't remember where I heard them, probably from some sci fi book): If something is entering our solar system at 1/5th the speed of light, it would have to start decelerating well outside Neptune in order to come close to stopping at Earth without destroying itself. That time of deceleration would take years from entering the solar system to arriving at Earth.

The G forces we humans can undergo will be the limiting factor as well.

[ShadowAce]

It may very well be a three minute trip--but will will arrive at Mars will just be puddles of goo, instead of passengers

[Joe Wooten]

How long would it take to accelerate to light speed? Also, as you get closer to light speed, your mass increases, causing a need for more energy to keep the acceleration, up to the point that when you hit the speed of light, the mass of the ship is effectively infinite.

[r9etb]

Sorry, but I call fake to this whole idea.  Mars and Earth are more than three minutes apart at light speed, as shown by the well-known communications delays (minimum 4 minutes, maximum 24 minutes).  And that doesn't even mention the requirements of acceleration/deceleration.

Spoil-sport.

Given the umpteen million g's it would take to start and stop, this was gonna be Flat Stanley's big chance at fame, and now you've ruined it!

[driftdiver]

There really is a problem that most science journalists don't think about. They think in terms of maximum speed and distance traveled.

For example (and I'm pulling these numbers out of my ass so feel free to correct me; I can't remember where I heard them, probably from some sci fi book): If something is entering our solar system at 1/5th the speed of light, it would have to start decelerating well outside Neptune in order to come close to stopping at Earth without destroying itself. That time of deceleration would take years from entering the solar system to arriving at Earth.

I don't think its that bad.  15-16 days at 1g depending on the route you took

[r9etb]

I don't think its that bad.  15-16 days at 1g depending on the route you took

The problem is finding enough propellant to achieve that 1g....

[driftdiver]

The problem is finding enough propellant to achieve that 1g....

You'll have to talk to supply about that issue.  I'm just the clock watcher man.

But I figure if they are aliens and have made it to neptune they probably have that issue figured out.

[r9etb]

You'll have to talk to supply about that issue.  I'm just the clock watcher man.

But I figure if they are aliens and have made it to neptune they probably have that issue figured out.

Excellent point.