starship-design: Re: Beamed Power (was: Perihelion Maneuver)

[KellySt@aol.com]

In a message dated 12/1/97 10:04:58 AM, lparker@cacaphony.net wrote:

>On Monday, December 01, 1997 2:03 AM, KellySt@aol.com 
>[SMTP:KellySt@aol.com] wrote:
>>
>> True, but since they can stay at home where normal ships can get at them
>> and
>> refuel them thats not as big a concern.  Also the power sats don't have 
>to
>> be
>> light and easy to move.
>
>Umm, not only do you have to fuel the power sats but you have to fuel the 
>transports too...

The power sats are solar powered.


>> The emiters don't really bother me.  They are basically just big O'Neil
>> style
>> power sats, and their thrust might be easy to ofset by the solar sail
>> effect
>> from their solar collectors.  Keeping the beam cleanly focused into a
>> beam
>> that the sail can get into and get balenced thrust from over widly varing
>> distences without refocusing is a bigger challege, and we'll probably 
>need
>> to
>> waste the vast bulk of the power outside of the central sweet spot the
>> sail
>> needs to stay in (and that sweet spot will need to be far larger then the
>> sail) so its efficency will be terrible.  But unless we come up with some
>> much better physics trics it seem about as good as we'll be able to
>> manage.
>
>BTW, it is totally unnecessary for the sats to be in phase if you are using 
>a laser sail concept. You are simply delivering a concentrated replacement 
>for sunlight, it doesn't even have to be monochromatic. I'm not familiar 
>enough with your microwave concept to know if you NEED coherent microwave 
>energy at the the receiving end.

I think for a maser sail the beam would need to be coherent, but I'm not
sure.


>> At least the fuel/sail system itself seems prety solid and relyable.  No
>> cryo
>> tanks or unstable fuels.  Pretty simple brute force tech.
>
>
>Lee
>                                                          (o o)
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I love the sig!  Appropriate for the holidays.  ;)

Kelly