This idea is the most important one for achieving regular space flight without relying on rocketry. This would allow for fleets of shuttles, lunar colony parts, and space fighters to be launched quickly and relatively cheaply. Once reactor and laser technology shrinks enough, the launch may even become decoupled from a ground-based laser.
density of the bean is the problem. 1. Building many many weak lasers can solve some things, but it would easily become much more expensive/impossible to build compared to already used systems. 2. On the good side - laser densities (beam power) have been increasing over time and at some point of time laser assisted launch would be possible if not the most reasonable. I.e. you enter your craft, laser pushes you to orbit and then you travel by whatever means you have. 3. Technically if laser propulsion would become really really effective, we probably could use it much like the game Mass Effect suggested - Earth based laser puches spacecraft to orbit - there are orbital relays, that can push the spacecraft, e.g. to Jupiter's docking station. After you complete your visit, a Jupiter relay pushes you back to Earth. Given powerful enough lasers, the travel time could be significantly reduced compared to burning fuel alternatives. ALSO - orbital lasers could be powered by sun or by earth-based lasers, which can in turn be powered by nuclear synthesis or again - solar energy. So shortage of energy would not be a problem for a looooong time.
@@thomaseubank1503 If the lasers on the planes were strong enough to push a spacecraft they would probably have an impact on the airplane itself (as they would push both ways). If that was the case, mounting the laser into the spacecraft would be more viable than using planes. That is to say that we would need a LOT more power to do that.
i imagine this concept will make a comeback in a few decades when the necessary inexpensive fabrication comes about along with cheap computer vision systems that can guide an intelligent laser that only fires when seeing the light-crafts chamber and can rapidly adjust the beam to course correct the trajectory of the craft. imagine the same kind of mass proliferation as we've seen with drones.
I imagine what happens, when the super hot sunlight gets directed to the wrong spot. If it is hot enough to let a plane fly who knows what happens when it hits a forest.
@@derekflegg2510 not with today's technology. You'll need a big-a** battery that will add the total weight of the aircraft. But soon.... ua-cam.com/video/KwW-U816KNE/v-deo.html
Actually this same laser could theoretically propel this 100g ship all the way to space. What stopped it going higher in this demonstration was that the laser's focus was harder to keep on-target as the ship got higher - but this can be corrected for. They didn't bother with this for the rough demonstration.
The video is 13 years old and the concept is roughly 71 years old, does anyone have any updates on why we haven't seen more of this or maybe why it failed? Is it kinda like the solar sail that Nasa has planned right now?
I really want to know too actually, and its bizarre how lacking current theories of aerodynamics are. I am learning how to engineer my own aircraft (mainly drones as a hobby) but when look for explanations on lift NASA's own site uses equal transit theory then proceeds to call it incorrect along with other but say they can describe some resulting lift but don't really add up... just amusing since they were developing tech like this years ago using a idea from almost a century ago...
At 4:40 he's actually talking about "ablative propulsion", which is how the lightcraft will operate while IN SPACE, which is not shown in this video. As there's no air while in space - the laser will instead explode a kindof "fuel paint" from the underside of the lightcraft. While in earth's atmosphere though the craft's ISP efficiency is effectively INFINITE. As the laser does not use fuel - it's solar or mains powered, and the lightcraft doesn't carry any ejection mass (it uses air).
This is actually very realistic and will most likely even be used for human transportation some day, using solar sails, which can collect even more light.
One can even imagine an on board hydrogen powered laser producing the same effect with out the tether of a ground based laser. A massive ground based laser can be used to launch vehicles into orbit. Phenomenal I could do more somehow.
@@jaydupree418 You could of that, but that would still need a sail depending on how you use it, but using a sail on the moving craft itself is better as its more efficient and economical is in rocketry weight is money and a laser would increase weight and a ground based laser would allow for a move powerful one at a more economical price.
The main advantage of beamed-energy propulsion is that the energy source (in this case whatever is powering the laser/maser) doesn't have to move. Putting it on the craft itself means you need to life the fuel as well as the ship and its contents. Not having to lift your own fuel allows for the hugely smaller spacecraft.
THIS IS FREAKING AWESOME!!!! I'm glad I got to see this. I wonder how far they have come with this laser engine since that program aired..., looks promising.
The ship carries helium for that purpose. This idea does not eliminate the need for propellant. It's just like a plasma drive, but the power source is separated from the craft, which makes the craft lighter. I really liked the idea. it's just like electrical trains, a laser beam would make a space highway for the crafts.
He talked about using microwaves as the propulsion for the space-bound aircraft. I don't think microwaves would do much to a person from that distance.
Michael Mandril It could, hard to say given this is theoretical stuff, it's possible to construct but we haven't constructed it yet, so we don't know if the orbital microwave can be weaponized or not. If it could, it could still be shot down by anti-satellite missiles which every space faring nation has, but of course if the satellite is lethal to ground targets, it can shoot down missiles too. All in all, I wouldn't be too worried about its military significance any more than what we already have.
@Masterpj555 The concept is that the laser will be on the engine when it takes off. If you shoot a laser you don't feel kick, as you would if you shot a gun. Rather you're using the laser to ionize the gas, giving it a magnetic field, therefore it can repel a field of the same polarity, creating propulsion. They advanced this idea and now call it the Ion Engine, NASA has developed and tested an engine with this concept, its efficency is about 3 times greater than engines use for lunar landing.
The laser won't be on the engine, it will be the engine. Lunar landers used regular rockets, no ion engines. And no, this is not an advancement of the ion engine
When using this design. You need a mono-frequency emitted radiation. Being white light, some bands of rad will not impact the air optimally. Basically find the most singular band of light that creates a plasmic discharge and put all the power in that. I guarantee it will increase the outcome handsomely. Also you need something hyper reflective and force resistive. If you would like to discuss possible modifications just reply and we will set something up.
Lovely concept. To bad born in a society that has no interest in any progress in this direction. (this concepvideo is now 7 years old and.... *listensto the crickets "cirp cirp cirp cirp*
+XentorAntarix cant agree more... the humans focus too much on power and money, power = war at some point, wich we are pretty close to, and money is just the ruler of everything, with power comes money etc. WHY not just use waay more time and money into better spaceships like this idea, finding out more about the universe, making more of those sicko telescopes that sees stuff far away. i dont get this planet, they are more interested in controll than finding out why the fuck we are here, in this big ass universe.
Didrik Løkken *nods* We life on a planet controlled by suicidial idiots.... It would be real easy to solve letsay sure 80 % of all world problems within only 100 years.
I bet 'they' built an Engine based on this Concept. Ever heard of that Strange Contrails Folks are saying were made by some kinda Aurora Black Project? I think Aurora is something like that
It was uploaded seven years ago, but made some 30 odd, years ago from the look of the video itself. This is either, getting willfully, suppressed or grossly, underfunded to the point where it's becoming impossible for the creators to proceed further. Unless there is concerns with the safety of the lazer beam itself. But that should not stop them from producing and promoting modified versions of it. My Visionary Space Best. Out.
20 years from now find some really rich supercapacitors, and then use them to power a laser (momentum = N * h / λ). That way you are not dependent on the line of sight or decay of the laser beam. A pure-electric space vehicle is possible. It doesn't even need to be limited to going "up" as would be the case for anti(only)-gravity. You don't even need "fuels" like uranium or hydrogen.
Radiant heat is quite capable of traversing even a perfect vacuum. It does not require any particles to propogate. I was under the impression that all of the liquid helium in the LHC was for the singular purpose of keeping the beam-bending magnets at a low enough temperature to superconduct.
I wish that when people posted segments of documentaries like this, they would tell you which documentary it came from. I want to watch the whole thing!
Because the laser pump flying saucer heats the air (pockets) around its curvature where the laser is being focused. It happens so spontaneous that the air molecules explode (expand) and propells the aircraft upwards. That being said, there are no air once it got out of the Earth's atmosphere and into space.
***** its for stability, thats why the guy is blowing not-so-really high pressure air to make it spin, so once the laser is turned on it will push the device and with the help of the rotation it will remain stable while flying..weeeee :)
Khoa Tran The space ship would need to carry its own propellant, some type of ablative oil would be sprayed beneath the ship, and the laser would vaporize it into plasma. This process would repeat for every pulse. But this is only in space, during take off it doesn't need to carry propellant at all, and 90% of a space shuttle's mass is propellant for take off alone.
Laser propulsion is a form of beam-powered propulsion where the energy source is a remote (usually ground-based) laser system and separate from the reaction mass. This form of propulsion differs from a conventional chemical rocket where both energy and reaction mass come from the solid or liquid propellants carried on board the vehicle.
A cold gas thruster is a rocket engine/thruster that uses a (typically inert) gas as the reaction mass. A cold gas thruster usually consists of simply a pressurized tank containing gas, a valve to control its release and a nozzle, and plumbing connecting them. A very simple example would be the use of a handheld CO2 or nitrogen gas fire extinguisher while sitting down in a rolling office chair; motion is achieved by pointing the nozzle in the direction opposite of the desired movement and activating the extinguisher. Because the gas is usually unheated, speed at the throat is low and very low performance is achieved; in a vacuum with nitrogen gas a specific impulse of 68 seconds can be achieved.[1][full citation needed] Cold gas thrusters are mostly useful for vernier engines, and are employed chiefly for simplicity and reliability.
Ion engines are small and lightweight. You could simply launch with the laser propulsion, and then once you're in space use the ion engine. But honestly, the laser propulsion actually does work in space - they paint a kindof solid fuel onto the mirror surface and the laser beam "ablates" it. The ablated particles are incredibly fast, so while in this mode it is still more efficient than traditional rockets. It's Win Win.
i personally love this idea and think its awesome and probably the next move in aerospace engineering, but im concerned with the method implied at the end of the video. Wouldn't the highly concentrated microwave beam burn through the ozone layer if shot at from outside our atmosphere? or should it not even go through since the atmosphere blocks out radiation from outside our planet?
I have always been a huge nerd for science, and these types of videos make me look forward to a good future, but what makes this video even better is the fact that it was uploaded on my birthday!
@TheRoomy I was wondering the same thing, but if you listen closely they drop this little conceptual handwaving doozy: "To fuel the rest of its journey, the lightcraft would use super-heated gas, accelerated by powerful electrical and magnetic fields." Which seems to be saying, "someone in the ion-thruster department figures that out, we just get the thing to orbit." Though if you're gathering such amounts of solar energy, why not use it to refine a fuel like hydrogen cells so it has other uses?
The idea is actually to super heat the air while still within the atmosphere to propel the ship AND fuel into space. That way the ship won't have to burn through most of it's fuel just to get into space.
I have always thought "If you really could go the speed of light, then what would happen when you turn on the headlights?" But according to Einstein's theory of relativity, you can't go the speed of light, but you can go faster or slower than it. I just want to be able to see what the world would be like 100 years from now, and see how far space travel has come.
The lack of air in space would limit it to use within the atmosphere, but I wonder... Maybe the laser can strike the metal in such a way that small portions of it could ablate, the vaporized gas could then take the place of air, and create that shockwave used to propel the thing. Of course you'd need a vehicle with thicker walls to last the whole trip while being shot at by hyper lasers.
The documentary's ridiculous music undermines the legitimacy of its subject and probably leaves most viewers inclined to dismiss everything they're seeing. Fucking irritating. Rather puzzling as well.
If they told me to strap on to a scaled prototype of this and hope for the best as they shoot a high-powered laser to it I'd be skeptical too, but if we can build sound barrier breaking planes and particle accelerators I think we can manage to make this more effective and safer. Makes you wonder if there's something... else out there somehow stopping inventions like these from being developed...
The laser propulsion system would only be used for liftoff. Once in space, the craft would use plasma rockets, which were described here as "superheated gas accelerated by powerful elecrical and magnetic fields"
he's talking about in the engine. The heat is only for microseconds, therefore it dissipates before causing any real damage to the craft. It actually doesn't heat the craft, just the air below it.
If the beam misses, it automatically defocuses; that's the nature of the transmitted energy. No danger at all. Lasers spread a lot: you can do damage from low orbit with lasers, or ground lasers reflected back to earth, but not do damage to anything on the moon, or further, unless it was an incredibly strong laser. You could however, use earth based lasers to illuminate work areas on the moon, during the long lunar night. You could also defocus them, and illuminate search areas in S&R ops.
We need to understand that this is a technology that is still in the development stages. As for the heat that gets generated, there would be shielding from that heat and of course an efficient way to convert the heat into useful energy that could be used for all types of applications on board the ship. I think the team working on this has made remarkable progress in the short time they have been working on it. I want to see the team succeed. This is revolutionary!
@fanatamon Granted that heat in any form tends to radiate away from its source, in this case, the device that generates the heat. That said, there are ways to use that heat to do and produce many useful things. We use heat all the time on Earth for nearly everything we do.
@@ArtAgent13 for sure and the allowances for heat use and dispersal would be much different in space environments I.e where one side was facing the sun it would be hotter so a balance would have to occur at times.
All propulsion works by using energy (in this case a solar or mains powered laser) to accelerate mass (in this case air). While on Earth - Air is all around us, so you don't need to carry that with you. All you need is an energy source to accelerate that air. Turbine engines use jetfuel to do it. But that means they have to carry the jetfuel, which runs out. The Lightcraft effectively has near infinite "fuel". The laser uses either a power cord or a HUGE solar panel. So it can't be onboard
this is some pretty innovative stuff, at least the medium the craft is traveling thru is being considered so its not force vs force, but it seems like if the module itself emitted the radiation to create a sort of "vacuum" medium then it would be more practical for space exploration
no. They are using the pressure of the photons produced by the laser when in a vacuum. For atmospheric use there is a rapid thermal expansion to produce thrust. Solar sails would use photon pressure just like a laser system.
Many people assume that very precise tracking by the beam is necessary - it isn't. Apparently the craft is (or can be) inherently self-centering in the beam, like a pingpong ball on a jet of air. Orbital systems could be built (geo-stat or Lagrange) with large solar collectors which could be used to power beams for interplantery craft (to Mars, say).
What if you were able to get some powerful generator to be on the craft itself? Since the laser has no recoil (I think) you could wire the generator up to the laser, point the laser at the "saucer" shaped piece that is strongly mounted onto the craft, and get forward motion. Then, for acceleration, just lower or heighten the intensity of the laser. For reverse, just give the "saucer" thing symmetry, with another laser pointed at it. Then, no "cooking" people with giant microwaves. :)
Despite the hokey ending, the test footage is pretty cool. Wish that was my job. I'd rather have a compact fuser and laser aboard the craft instead of relying on an orbiting sat while we're all wishfully thinking. Still pretty sweet!
@ucrdave Don't forget, the air acts as the reaction-mass (remass), not as the energy source. The energy source (or "fuel") is the laser. In chemical rockets the fuel and remass are the same thing, but in alternative rockets like plasma electric or this fine example the remass needs to be considered separately.
They could use an ablative coating that would turn into plasma. Only problem is that once the coating is completely vaporized, you're effectively out of fuel. Maybe the radiation pressure would allow it to continue to operate like a solar sail?
@1wntr Pretty sure it's because there's only 1 of them. Also, this is meant to add propulsion so that you just have to use smaller rockets. Stability would be kept by the aerodynamic properties of the aircraft once it's gained speed.
It requires air to work, something a spaceship crew would be in very limited supply of. However, it is easier to transport large quantities of compressed gas than it is solid rocket propellant. This represents merely a very efficient fuel.
@Nomoreidsleft Once it is in space it will use plasma engines. It says so during the last bit, when it talks about helium ions that is the plasma engine thing.
the prototype they are working with requires air yes, but only for stripping electrons from it. With a bit more advancement we would be able to utilize what little atomic matter exist in the space between the objects in our solar system. It's just way to diffuse to be practical for deep space travel at this time. But great for ferrying cargo into orbit.
There using about a 200w co2 laser which propells the silver thing about 40 feet, so to get to 350,000 feet (100 miles) It would need 1.62Mw laser or 8200 lasers, Also the Major flaw is the propusion system heats air to get in space, and so will be less efficient at higher altitudes as the air get's less dense. and in space there is no air so it wont work at all. But it might help to provide some force, thus lowering the fuel load.
@pempern What I understand is that the main issue is that the high energy to escape the earth gravity is not needed on the vehicle (laser and air not on board) thus significantly less weight to move and less energy is necessary, I see no reason to transport useless and heavy nitrogen (78% of air) that would also require a laser system in space, rather than other more efficient and light liquid combustions once out of the earth’s atmosphere.
I hear a good part of the reason they stopped bothering with this was the thrust is unstable... of course it's goddamn unstable you have high-velocity energized gasses spewing out the back of it that can cause optical distortions for the laser, and it has no "control" mechanisms onboard besides the gyroscopic forces of it spinning that only keeps it upright, so not directly ontop of the laser, so the energy isn't going to be uniformly produced under it.
@Pellegrino80 im sure if the outer shell was to spin for gyroscopic stability, the interior can be magnetically suspended to allow frictionless, spin free flight.
@ctcentralinfo, Yes, it would. But it would increase the range at which it would travel by a pecentage as well as the overall safety. In the example I gave, the entire system is enclosed so no "accidents" would happen off of the ship in case something decided to float in front of the microwave beam. This also means the scenario of a microwave misfire is eliminated completely. During lift off, the ship may encounter turblence and move off coarse, allowing the microwaves to reach the ground.
as the model gets farther away from the laser, it's power decreases. But since the laser is only emitting light, not massed particles, why don't they attach the laser to the back of the model? like if it were connected to the craft, positioned behind it, and oriented so it's pointing toward it. Then as long as you have air, you have max thrust.
+ThePieFlava I wonder this too. How much does one of those ridiculously potent lasers weigh? What about the weight of the laser's energy source? Maybe they're far from portable.
This needs more funding. As for comments it won't work in space the laser engine may still work if some hydrogen or water was carried on board for reaction mass at high altitudes. It still would save hundreds of tons of propellant and cut cost by more then 10x even if it can only replace the first stage.
actually a very basic ion engine can be made cheaply using a thin copper wire used as a corona wire charged to several thousand volts, and grounded sheets of tin foil. they can barely lift themselves off the ground, and do not have the efficiency of something like say a helicopter.
seems pretty sweet if they could find a way to keep the pilot and crew stationary while the craft spins .. ya know so the dont get dizzy or die from extreme g force spins
This is already a couple of years old, wonder what the current update on this is. Ive seen it also with a bit more content plus about how it would be applied with nowdays technology. The only problem would be having a laser big enough to power a manned spacecraft. But if for starters such a craft would be used for deploying satelites what a safe on exhaust fumes it would safe of conventional spaceshuttles etc.
This is really just a concept vehicle for a plasma drive. The Ion drives they are testing is the next step. It takes much less energy to generate and contain a plasma in space (a natural vacuum) You still have to carry the gas with you but you will use less energy, and can accelerate the plasma much faster and need less gas.
@dumle29 why not? on space shuttles they bring air plus fuel so if you onely have to take the air it would really be a step forward and air doesnt explode so it is safer.
@phoenixaltar The problem with this would be the weight of the power source. The attraction here is that you can have a big clunky laser on the ground, optimized for energy efficiency, and transfer that power to a lightweight vehicle. Having to haul a big chemical laser or something of that power, well, regular old hydrogen/oxygen rocket engines would be a far more efficient way to get into orbit.
Putting a plasma flame in front of a jet, like the nose, would maximize efficiency immensly. By ionizing the nitrogen and oxygen gasses in front of the craft you would reduce your drag by 50%.
This has some strong potential, as long as the process of scaling it up isn't to difficult. The idea at the end of the video is almost 'fantasy like", yet is based on real technology.
So we are talking about fusion. In essence hydrogen in been converted into helium through a high energy pulse in the form of a laser. So theoretically it could be hydrogen gas been used to spin the objects. But what would you use to deal with such incredible temperatures,tungsten carbide? Ultimately you would expect melting/burning, its how you deal with it poses the biggest question
But in space there is no air friction, so any speed achieved in earths atmosphere would be the speed of the aircraft in space. That could be increased a lot with a small engine and some fuel.
and hence, the propulsion wouldn't work if the laser is no the craft because the laser is not the propellant, it is the air plasma under the craft. if you put the laser under the craft, the earth surface would experience force but the craft wouldn't move at all
@VladChe Statistically, the space shuttles like most aircraft are a "safer" ride, but when there is a crack up, it's so much more devastating. I hope is that maser is activated when that flying saucer is far, far away from the earth...
@LolcanoStudios said: "He said the metal would become up to 5 times hotter than the surface of the sun... yet he catches it with his bare hands after use? :S" He said it would be between 10000 to 30000 Kelvin (9727 to 29727°C), sun is circa 6000°C, any metal would melts below 2000 °C if maintained long enough, the reaction near the metal would be at 30000 Kelvin for 18 microseconds, the amount of heat transferred to the metal would be barely measurable.
@steveecker the craft would also be nearly weightless in space so would be propelled by the incidence of energy on it surface from the laser of microwaves much easier!
@LolcanoStudios just for the timespan of milliseconds, so its not really the metal becoming that hot, as i know we dont have any kind of material yet wich actually could stand even 1 time the suns themperature. allready temperatures wich would made the metal cylinder deform would totaly waste the accurate upward movement caused by the plasma explosions, infact of the upcoming asymmetries inside of the parabolic dish and its irregular becoming reflection angles. correct me if im wrong :)
A rotating disc just above the engine's of a space rocket would save lots of fuel. Even unmanned rockets with spinning discs that can move. A moon base is not just a dream but reality. massive pay loads with massive discs.
A very optimized design should be able to carry it's own fuel, considering the efficiency of this type of propulsion and the amount of thrust it gives off it just might be possible. The real problem with this design is that it depends on ground based lasers that have to go trough the atmosphere and missing the target at long distances due to distorition. that And the fact that it must face directly away from the laser, meaning no maneuvering is possible
That only referrs to it's thrust efficiency while in space (where it uses an ablative "fuel paint" as fuel). While within Earth's atmosphere it's ISP efficiency is effectively INFINITE.
Rise in maximum style, very good! Auxiliary laser MAIN PROPULSION, in my opinion is a good idea! Congratulations! The disc is a good idea to go to space, I think the disc-shaped adapts well to different MAIN PROPULSION and fuel sources.
@MrEchinoderm Your right and if you just keep on propelling into space it be like a train trying to get stopped and need a large amount of power to start slowing you down and it would have to be done very slowly. You could use so much power to get you moving faster but it be harder to get stopped.
That's interesting. I had the same idea myself, but didn't realize that someone beat me to it by 65 years.
Haha ,., yah that,s dark humor aww shot myself !
What was/is your idea? Never know, it could be different enough to be it's own enity
I just had this idea. It was crushing to have it beat by 70 years now. Lol.
How about using this in a jet engine.. Instead of burning a fuel air mixture, just burn the air..
@@derekflegg2510 why not use humans as hamsters or even better as biofuel
This idea is the most important one for achieving regular space flight without relying on rocketry. This would allow for fleets of shuttles, lunar colony parts, and space fighters to be launched quickly and relatively cheaply. Once reactor and laser technology shrinks enough, the launch may even become decoupled from a ground-based laser.
Now just build a huge ass laser and make a big version of one of these things and you have yourself a space elevator.
density of the bean is the problem.
1. Building many many weak lasers can solve some things, but it would easily become much more expensive/impossible to build compared to already used systems.
2. On the good side - laser densities (beam power) have been increasing over time and at some point of time laser assisted launch would be possible if not the most reasonable. I.e. you enter your craft, laser pushes you to orbit and then you travel by whatever means you have.
3. Technically if laser propulsion would become really really effective, we probably could use it much like the game Mass Effect suggested - Earth based laser puches spacecraft to orbit - there are orbital relays, that can push the spacecraft, e.g. to Jupiter's docking station. After you complete your visit, a Jupiter relay pushes you back to Earth.
Given powerful enough lasers, the travel time could be significantly reduced compared to burning fuel alternatives.
ALSO - orbital lasers could be powered by sun or by earth-based lasers, which can in turn be powered by nuclear synthesis or again - solar energy. So shortage of energy would not be a problem for a looooong time.
@@EBiz-tv9jq Do you think that a ground based laser followed by two lasers each mounted upon airplanes could beat the atmospheric limitations?
@@thomaseubank1503 If the lasers on the planes were strong enough to push a spacecraft they would probably have an impact on the airplane itself (as they would push both ways).
If that was the case, mounting the laser into the spacecraft would be more viable than using planes. That is to say that we would need a LOT more power to do that.
i imagine this concept will make a comeback in a few decades when the necessary inexpensive fabrication comes about along with cheap computer vision systems that can guide an intelligent laser that only fires when seeing the light-crafts chamber and can rapidly adjust the beam to course correct the trajectory of the craft. imagine the same kind of mass proliferation as we've seen with drones.
I imagine what happens, when the super hot sunlight gets directed to the wrong spot. If it is hot enough to let a plane fly who knows what happens when it hits a forest.
this is perfectly useful in the space
How about using this in a jet engine.. Instead of burning a fuel air mixture, just burn the air..
@@derekflegg2510 not with today's technology. You'll need a big-a** battery that will add the total weight of the aircraft. But soon.... ua-cam.com/video/KwW-U816KNE/v-deo.html
@@UPIL.INDONESIA yeah for sure youre gonna build a new light weight alloymetal for your jet
Actually this same laser could theoretically propel this 100g ship all the way to space.
What stopped it going higher in this demonstration was that the laser's focus was harder to keep on-target as the ship got higher - but this can be corrected for. They didn't bother with this for the rough demonstration.
The video is 13 years old and the concept is roughly 71 years old, does anyone have any updates on why we haven't seen more of this or maybe why it failed? Is it kinda like the solar sail that Nasa has planned right now?
I really want to know too actually, and its bizarre how lacking current theories of aerodynamics are. I am learning how to engineer my own aircraft (mainly drones as a hobby) but when look for explanations on lift NASA's own site uses equal transit theory then proceeds to call it incorrect along with other but say they can describe some resulting lift but don't really add up... just amusing since they were developing tech like this years ago using a idea from almost a century ago...
Problem is generating the required technology for it.
We have no laser technology that can do something like this in a bigger scale.
I been thinking lately in a engine with pistons push by this tech instead of the common gasoline. 😊
There now called UAP flying around US Air force using them against US navy
Weaponized, DoD, private contractors. This is military tech now
At 4:40 he's actually talking about "ablative propulsion", which is how the lightcraft will operate while IN SPACE, which is not shown in this video. As there's no air while in space - the laser will instead explode a kindof "fuel paint" from the underside of the lightcraft.
While in earth's atmosphere though the craft's ISP efficiency is effectively INFINITE. As the laser does not use fuel - it's solar or mains powered, and the lightcraft doesn't carry any ejection mass (it uses air).
This is actually very realistic and will most likely even be used for human transportation some day, using solar sails, which can collect even more light.
One can even imagine an on board hydrogen powered laser producing the same effect with out the tether of a ground based laser. A massive ground based laser can be used to launch vehicles into orbit. Phenomenal I could do more somehow.
@@jaydupree418 You could of that, but that would still need a sail depending on how you use it, but using a sail on the moving craft itself is better as its more efficient and economical is in rocketry weight is money and a laser would increase weight and a ground based laser would allow for a move powerful one at a more economical price.
The main advantage of beamed-energy propulsion is that the energy source (in this case whatever is powering the laser/maser) doesn't have to move. Putting it on the craft itself means you need to life the fuel as well as the ship and its contents. Not having to lift your own fuel allows for the hugely smaller spacecraft.
Well, it works great on the Chaparral 2x on Gran Turismo 6!
this is a pretty innovative propulsion method, very inventive.
THIS IS FREAKING AWESOME!!!! I'm glad I got to see this. I wonder how far they have come with this laser engine since that program aired..., looks promising.
hahahaha learn first, it is ridiculous
The ship carries helium for that purpose. This idea does not eliminate the need for propellant. It's just like a plasma drive, but the power source is separated from the craft, which makes the craft lighter. I really liked the idea. it's just like electrical trains, a laser beam would make a space highway for the crafts.
Great idea. Only thing about a space based system is the potential for weaponization as a global mega deathray.
He talked about using microwaves as the propulsion for the space-bound aircraft. I don't think microwaves would do much to a person from that distance.
Michael Mandril It could, hard to say given this is theoretical stuff, it's possible to construct but we haven't constructed it yet, so we don't know if the orbital microwave can be weaponized or not. If it could, it could still be shot down by anti-satellite missiles which every space faring nation has, but of course if the satellite is lethal to ground targets, it can shoot down missiles too. All in all, I wouldn't be too worried about its military significance any more than what we already have.
@Masterpj555 The concept is that the laser will be on the engine when it takes off. If you shoot a laser you don't feel kick, as you would if you shot a gun. Rather you're using the laser to ionize the gas, giving it a magnetic field, therefore it can repel a field of the same polarity, creating propulsion.
They advanced this idea and now call it the Ion Engine, NASA has developed and tested an engine with this concept, its efficency is about 3 times greater than engines use for lunar landing.
The laser won't be on the engine, it will be the engine. Lunar landers used regular rockets, no ion engines. And no, this is not an advancement of the ion engine
now thats what i call having fun))
When using this design. You need a mono-frequency emitted radiation. Being white light, some bands of rad will not impact the air optimally. Basically find the most singular band of light that creates a plasmic discharge and put all the power in that. I guarantee it will increase the outcome handsomely. Also you need something hyper reflective and force resistive. If you would like to discuss possible modifications just reply and we will set something up.
Lovely concept.
To bad born in a society that has no interest in any progress in this direction.
(this concepvideo is now 7 years old and.... *listensto the crickets "cirp cirp cirp cirp*
+XentorAntarix cant agree more... the humans focus too much on power and money, power = war at some point, wich we are pretty close to, and money is just the ruler of everything, with power comes money etc. WHY not just use waay more time and money into better spaceships like this idea, finding out more about the universe, making more of those sicko telescopes that sees stuff far away. i dont get this planet, they are more interested in controll than finding out why the fuck we are here, in this big ass universe.
Didrik Løkken
*nods* We life on a planet controlled by suicidial idiots.... It would be real easy to solve letsay sure 80 % of all world problems within only 100 years.
I bet 'they' built an Engine based on this Concept.
Ever heard of that Strange Contrails Folks are saying were made by some kinda Aurora Black Project?
I think Aurora is something like that
It was uploaded seven years ago, but made some 30 odd, years ago from the look of the video itself. This is either, getting willfully, suppressed or grossly, underfunded to the point where it's becoming impossible for the creators to proceed further.
Unless there is concerns with the safety of the lazer beam itself. But that should not stop them from producing and promoting modified versions of it.
My Visionary Space Best. Out.
@@XentorAntarix : Or less. I could not agree more.
20 years from now find some really rich supercapacitors, and then use them to power a laser (momentum = N * h / λ). That way you are not dependent on the line of sight or decay of the laser beam. A pure-electric space vehicle is possible. It doesn't even need to be limited to going "up" as would be the case for anti(only)-gravity. You don't even need "fuels" like uranium or hydrogen.
omg this is amazing.. i wanna be an aeorspace engineer
Me too
yo Zach its been 10 years, i wonder what you are doing in your life right now?
@@cenchboyssb3348 I agreed, I wonder why he isn't replying?
Radiant heat is quite capable of traversing even a perfect vacuum. It does not require any particles to propogate. I was under the impression that all of the liquid helium in the LHC was for the singular purpose of keeping the beam-bending magnets at a low enough temperature to superconduct.
wow! this is brill, we could have our very own 'flying saucer' so sci fi i love it!! keep up the good work, hell of alot better than fossil fuels
I wish that when people posted segments of documentaries like this, they would tell you which documentary it came from. I want to watch the whole thing!
Problem is.. There won't be any air once it got into space. Another kind of propulsion would be needed once in space.
What does it need air bro?
Because the laser pump flying saucer heats the air (pockets) around its curvature where the laser is being focused. It happens so spontaneous that the air molecules explode (expand) and propells the aircraft upwards.
That being said, there are no air once it got out of the Earth's atmosphere and into space.
***** its for stability, thats why the guy is blowing not-so-really high pressure air to make it spin, so once the laser is turned on it will push the device and with the help of the rotation it will remain stable while flying..weeeee :)
Khoa Tran The space ship would need to carry its own propellant, some type of ablative oil would be sprayed beneath the ship, and the laser would vaporize it into plasma. This process would repeat for every pulse. But this is only in space, during take off it doesn't need to carry propellant at all, and 90% of a space shuttle's mass is propellant for take off alone.
The whole point of this design was to reduce loads (weight of fuel). Carrying the oil would make this less effective and more costly.
Laser propulsion is a form of beam-powered propulsion where the energy source is a remote (usually ground-based) laser system and separate from the reaction mass. This form of propulsion differs from a conventional chemical rocket where both energy and reaction mass come from the solid or liquid propellants carried on board the vehicle.
A cold gas thruster is a rocket engine/thruster that uses a (typically inert) gas as the reaction mass.
A cold gas thruster usually consists of simply a pressurized tank containing gas, a valve to control its release and a nozzle, and plumbing connecting them. A very simple example would be the use of a handheld CO2 or nitrogen gas fire extinguisher while sitting down in a rolling office chair; motion is achieved by pointing the nozzle in the direction opposite of the desired movement and activating the extinguisher.
Because the gas is usually unheated, speed at the throat is low and very low performance is achieved; in a vacuum with nitrogen gas a specific impulse of 68 seconds can be achieved.[1][full citation needed]
Cold gas thrusters are mostly useful for vernier engines, and are employed chiefly for simplicity and reliability.
2:17 sounds like a M4 on auto. totaly awesome
Ion engines are small and lightweight.
You could simply launch with the laser propulsion, and then once you're in space use the ion engine.
But honestly, the laser propulsion actually does work in space - they paint a kindof solid fuel onto the mirror surface and the laser beam "ablates" it. The ablated particles are incredibly fast, so while in this mode it is still more efficient than traditional rockets. It's Win Win.
i personally love this idea and think its awesome and probably the next move in aerospace engineering, but im concerned with the method implied at the end of the video. Wouldn't the highly concentrated microwave beam burn through the ozone layer if shot at from outside our atmosphere? or should it not even go through since the atmosphere blocks out radiation from outside our planet?
I have always been a huge nerd for science, and these types of videos make me look forward to a good future, but what makes this video even better is the fact that it was uploaded on my birthday!
ufos stealing energy from the sun was just explained in 6 minutes and 37 seconds
YOU CANT STEAL ENERGY FROM THE SUN...YOU CAN USE IT LIKE THE PLANTS DO....
@@donyachant9103 Ah you need to do some solar lifting my friend, although nobody has done that yet.
@TheRoomy I was wondering the same thing, but if you listen closely they drop this little conceptual handwaving doozy: "To fuel the rest of its journey, the lightcraft would use super-heated gas, accelerated by powerful electrical and magnetic fields." Which seems to be saying, "someone in the ion-thruster department figures that out, we just get the thing to orbit." Though if you're gathering such amounts of solar energy, why not use it to refine a fuel like hydrogen cells so it has other uses?
now i know how the ufo`s move !!
The idea is actually to super heat the air while still within the atmosphere to propel the ship AND fuel into space. That way the ship won't have to burn through most of it's fuel just to get into space.
I have always thought "If you really could go the speed of light, then what would happen when you turn on the headlights?" But according to Einstein's theory of relativity, you can't go the speed of light, but you can go faster or slower than it. I just want to be able to see what the world would be like 100 years from now, and see how far space travel has come.
The lack of air in space would limit it to use within the atmosphere, but I wonder...
Maybe the laser can strike the metal in such a way that small portions of it could ablate, the vaporized gas could then take the place of air, and create that shockwave used to propel the thing. Of course you'd need a vehicle with thicker walls to last the whole trip while being shot at by hyper lasers.
The documentary's ridiculous music undermines the legitimacy of its subject and probably leaves most viewers inclined to dismiss everything they're seeing. Fucking irritating. Rather puzzling as well.
If they told me to strap on to a scaled prototype of this and hope for the best as they shoot a high-powered laser to it I'd be skeptical too, but if we can build sound barrier breaking planes and particle accelerators I think we can manage to make this more effective and safer.
Makes you wonder if there's something... else out there somehow stopping inventions like these from being developed...
Does anybody have an update on the progress of this project please.
it was indefinately.put on hold due to the launch of the iPhone 7 ! ! !
James Behrje If they are launching an Emdrive to space shortly, surely they could invest in this.
What is an Emdrive? ? ?
RF resonant cavity thruster. Check it out on Wikipedia.
matthewakian2 playing games with use
The laser propulsion system would only be used for liftoff. Once in space, the craft would use plasma rockets, which were described here as "superheated gas accelerated by powerful elecrical and magnetic fields"
he's talking about in the engine. The heat is only for microseconds, therefore it dissipates before causing any real damage to the craft. It actually doesn't heat the craft, just the air below it.
This is what powers the Chevy-Chaparral 2X concept car.
I had this idea too. I can’t understand why Tesla, nasa, esa are not investing on it
If the beam misses, it automatically defocuses; that's the nature of the transmitted energy. No danger at all.
Lasers spread a lot: you can do damage from low orbit with lasers, or ground lasers reflected back to earth, but not do damage to anything on the moon, or further, unless it was an incredibly strong laser. You could however, use earth based lasers to illuminate work areas on the moon, during the long lunar night.
You could also defocus them, and illuminate search areas in S&R ops.
We need to understand that this is a technology that is still in the development stages. As for the heat that gets generated, there would be shielding from that heat and of course an efficient way to convert the heat into useful energy that could be used for all types of applications on board the ship. I think the team working on this has made remarkable progress in the short time they have been working on it. I want to see the team succeed. This is revolutionary!
Wonder what the heat issues are in space where its heaps colder.
@fanatamon Granted that heat in any form tends to radiate away from its source, in this case, the device that generates the heat. That said, there are ways to use that heat to do and produce many useful things. We use heat all the time on Earth for nearly everything we do.
@@ArtAgent13 for sure and the allowances for heat use and dispersal would be much different in space environments I.e where one side was facing the sun it would be hotter so a balance would have to occur at times.
All propulsion works by using energy (in this case a solar or mains powered laser) to accelerate mass (in this case air).
While on Earth - Air is all around us, so you don't need to carry that with you. All you need is an energy source to accelerate that air.
Turbine engines use jetfuel to do it. But that means they have to carry the jetfuel, which runs out.
The Lightcraft effectively has near infinite "fuel". The laser uses either a power cord or a HUGE solar panel. So it can't be onboard
this is some pretty innovative stuff, at least the medium the craft is traveling thru is being considered so its not force vs force, but it seems like if the module itself emitted the radiation to create a sort of "vacuum" medium then it would be more practical for space exploration
no. They are using the pressure of the photons produced by the laser when in a vacuum. For atmospheric use there is a rapid thermal expansion to produce thrust.
Solar sails would use photon pressure just like a laser system.
Many people assume that very precise tracking by the beam is necessary - it isn't. Apparently the craft is (or can be) inherently self-centering in the beam, like a pingpong ball on a jet of air.
Orbital systems could be built (geo-stat or Lagrange) with large solar collectors which could be used to power beams for interplantery craft (to Mars, say).
What if you were able to get some powerful generator to be on the craft itself? Since the laser has no recoil (I think) you could wire the generator up to the laser, point the laser at the "saucer" shaped piece that is strongly mounted onto the craft, and get forward motion. Then, for acceleration, just lower or heighten the intensity of the laser. For reverse, just give the "saucer" thing symmetry, with another laser pointed at it. Then, no "cooking" people with giant microwaves. :)
I like that.
Despite the hokey ending, the test footage is pretty cool. Wish that was my job. I'd rather have a compact fuser and laser aboard the craft instead of relying on an orbiting sat while we're all wishfully thinking. Still pretty sweet!
@ucrdave
Don't forget, the air acts as the reaction-mass (remass), not as the energy source. The energy source (or "fuel") is the laser. In chemical rockets the fuel and remass are the same thing, but in alternative rockets like plasma electric or this fine example the remass needs to be considered separately.
They could use an ablative coating that would turn into plasma. Only problem is that once the coating is completely vaporized, you're effectively out of fuel. Maybe the radiation pressure would allow it to continue to operate like a solar sail?
One of the best channels on youtube! If not thee best!!
@1wntr Pretty sure it's because there's only 1 of them. Also, this is meant to add propulsion so that you just have to use smaller rockets. Stability would be kept by the aerodynamic properties of the aircraft once it's gained speed.
@dumle29 no. if there is a shock wave, it means energy is moving one direction, and you move the opposite direction.
It requires air to work, something a spaceship crew would be in very limited supply of. However, it is easier to transport large quantities of compressed gas than it is solid rocket propellant. This represents merely a very efficient fuel.
@Nomoreidsleft Once it is in space it will use plasma engines. It says so during the last bit, when it talks about helium ions that is the plasma engine thing.
the prototype they are working with requires air yes, but only for stripping electrons from it. With a bit more advancement we would be able to utilize what little atomic matter exist in the space between the objects in our solar system. It's just way to diffuse to be practical for deep space travel at this time. But great for ferrying cargo into orbit.
This is amazing. Also, what a fucking catch by this guy!
It's the horizontal velocities needed to get to orbit which makes this concept difficult. Neat though.
Agreed. That would be the best application of this technology in my opinion. Short range trips to low earth orbit.
@Moeclone no it needs the electrons ions positrons which is found in everything but no doesnt need air, hes just using air to stabilize the craft
There using about a 200w co2 laser which propells the silver thing about 40 feet, so to get to 350,000 feet (100 miles) It would need 1.62Mw laser or 8200 lasers,
Also the Major flaw is the propusion system heats air to get in space, and so will be less efficient at higher altitudes as the air get's less dense. and in space there is no air so it wont work at all. But it might help to provide some force, thus lowering the fuel load.
@pempern
What I understand is that the main issue is that the high energy to escape the earth gravity is not needed on the vehicle (laser and air not on board) thus significantly less weight to move and less energy is necessary, I see no reason to transport useless and heavy nitrogen (78% of air) that would also require a laser system in space, rather than other more efficient and light liquid combustions once out of the earth’s atmosphere.
I hear a good part of the reason they stopped bothering with this was the thrust is unstable... of course it's goddamn unstable you have high-velocity energized gasses spewing out the back of it that can cause optical distortions for the laser, and it has no "control" mechanisms onboard besides the gyroscopic forces of it spinning that only keeps it upright, so not directly ontop of the laser, so the energy isn't going to be uniformly produced under it.
The laser could track the ship between pulses and aim at the correct spot.
@Pellegrino80 im sure if the outer shell was to spin for gyroscopic stability, the interior can be magnetically suspended to allow frictionless, spin free flight.
@ctcentralinfo, Yes, it would. But it would increase the range at which it would travel by a pecentage as well as the overall safety. In the example I gave, the entire system is enclosed so no "accidents" would happen off of the ship in case something decided to float in front of the microwave beam. This also means the scenario of a microwave misfire is eliminated completely. During lift off, the ship may encounter turblence and move off coarse, allowing the microwaves to reach the ground.
as the model gets farther away from the laser, it's power decreases. But since the laser is only emitting light, not massed particles, why don't they attach the laser to the back of the model? like if it were connected to the craft, positioned behind it, and oriented so it's pointing toward it. Then as long as you have air, you have max thrust.
+ThePieFlava
I wonder this too. How much does one of those ridiculously potent lasers weigh? What about the weight of the laser's energy source? Maybe they're far from portable.
This needs more funding.
As for comments it won't work in space the laser engine may still work if some hydrogen or water was carried on board for reaction mass at high altitudes.
It still would save hundreds of tons of propellant and cut cost by more then 10x even if it can only replace the first stage.
actually a very basic ion engine can be made cheaply using a thin copper wire used as a corona wire charged to several thousand volts, and grounded sheets of tin foil. they can barely lift themselves off the ground, and do not have the efficiency of something like say a helicopter.
seems pretty sweet if they could find a way to keep the pilot and crew stationary while the craft spins .. ya know so the dont get dizzy or die from extreme g force spins
This is already a couple of years old, wonder what the current update on this is.
Ive seen it also with a bit more content plus about how it would be applied with nowdays technology.
The only problem would be having a laser big enough to power a manned spacecraft.
But if for starters such a craft would be used for deploying satelites what a safe on exhaust fumes it would safe of conventional spaceshuttles etc.
This is really just a concept vehicle for a plasma drive. The Ion drives they are testing is the next step. It takes much less energy to generate and contain a plasma in space (a natural vacuum) You still have to carry the gas with you but you will use less energy, and can accelerate the plasma much faster and need less gas.
@dumle29 why not? on space shuttles they bring air plus fuel so if you onely have to take the air it would really be a step forward and air doesnt explode so it is safer.
Wild that they were doing this probably over 2 decades ago. Imagine what they have now.
@phoenixaltar
The problem with this would be the weight of the power source. The attraction here is that you can have a big clunky laser on the ground, optimized for energy efficiency, and transfer that power to a lightweight vehicle. Having to haul a big chemical laser or something of that power, well, regular old hydrogen/oxygen rocket engines would be a far more efficient way to get into orbit.
Putting a plasma flame in front of a jet, like the nose, would maximize efficiency immensly. By ionizing the nitrogen and oxygen gasses in front of the craft you would reduce your drag by 50%.
This has some strong potential, as long as the process of scaling it up isn't to difficult.
The idea at the end of the video is almost 'fantasy like", yet is based on real technology.
So we are talking about fusion.
In essence hydrogen in been converted into helium through a high energy pulse in the form of a laser. So theoretically it could be hydrogen gas been used to spin the objects.
But what would you use to deal with such incredible temperatures,tungsten carbide?
Ultimately you would expect melting/burning, its how you deal with it poses the biggest question
But in space there is no air friction, so any speed achieved in earths atmosphere would be the speed of the aircraft in space. That could be increased a lot with a small engine and some fuel.
and hence, the propulsion wouldn't work if the laser is no the craft because the laser is not the propellant, it is the air plasma under the craft. if you put the laser under the craft, the earth surface would experience force but the craft wouldn't move at all
@16awala - adding a generator will mean more weight less room for cargo which means less efficiency.
@VladChe Statistically, the space shuttles like most aircraft are a "safer" ride, but when there is a crack up, it's so much more devastating. I hope is that maser is activated when that flying saucer is far, far away from the earth...
It is amazing what some ingenuity can do.
@LolcanoStudios said: "He said the metal would become up to 5 times hotter than the surface of the sun... yet he catches it with his bare hands after use? :S"
He said it would be between 10000 to 30000 Kelvin (9727 to 29727°C), sun is circa 6000°C, any metal would melts below 2000 °C if maintained long enough, the reaction near the metal would be at 30000 Kelvin for 18 microseconds, the amount of heat transferred to the metal would be barely measurable.
My favorite surface-to-orbit technology.
@steveecker the craft would also be nearly weightless in space so would be propelled by the incidence of energy on it surface from the laser of microwaves much easier!
@LolcanoStudios just for the timespan of milliseconds, so its not really the metal becoming that hot, as i know we dont have any kind of material yet wich actually could stand even 1 time the suns themperature. allready temperatures wich would made the metal cylinder deform would totaly waste the accurate upward movement caused by the plasma explosions, infact of the upcoming asymmetries inside of the parabolic dish and its irregular becoming reflection angles. correct me if im wrong :)
no, I'm talking about a full round plasma shield covering the entire craft; which, I recall, reduces drag to 0%
Yeah, that sounds like a great idea. You should get on that.
This Man is a genius !!!💕
A rotating disc just above the engine's of a space rocket would save lots of fuel. Even unmanned rockets with spinning discs that can move. A moon base is not just a dream but reality. massive pay loads with massive discs.
A very optimized design should be able to carry it's own fuel, considering the efficiency of this type of propulsion and the amount of thrust it gives off it just might be possible.
The real problem with this design is that it depends on ground based lasers that have to go trough the atmosphere and missing the target at long distances due to distorition. that And the fact that it must face directly away from the laser, meaning no maneuvering is possible
That only referrs to it's thrust efficiency while in space (where it uses an ablative "fuel paint" as fuel).
While within Earth's atmosphere it's ISP efficiency is effectively INFINITE.
Reminds me of something I read in Encounter With Tiber, where the aliens use a laser to propel a spaceship with solar sail.
30 years of schools, 5 books written and at least this guy throws jingle jingle.
the laser is shone in very brief bursts, not giving the craft enough time to absorb the heat, so it wouldn't be so hot when it got to the ground.
How clever. Unfeasible as a mode of interstellar transport, but very ingenious.
Rise in maximum style, very good!
Auxiliary laser MAIN PROPULSION, in my opinion is a good idea! Congratulations!
The disc is a good idea to go to space, I think the disc-shaped adapts well to different MAIN PROPULSION and fuel sources.
@MrEchinoderm Your right and if you just keep on propelling into space it be like a train trying to get stopped and need a large amount of power to start slowing you down and it would have to be done very slowly. You could use so much power to get you moving faster but it be harder to get stopped.