missinglink Loc: Tralfamadore

Mars in three days? NASA touts new propulsion system.

With all the talk of one day launching a human mission to Mars, it still would take upwards of six months to reach the Red Planet.

But NASA researchers are working on new laser technology that could allow a craft to reach Mars in as little as three days. Known as photonic propulsion, the system would works by using lasers to propel a giant sail. Rather than photons from the Sun’s rays, the system would get a boost from Earth-based lasers, according to ScienceAlert.

Related: The Moon or Mars? NASA must pick 1 goal for astronauts, experts tell Congress

“There are recent advances which take this from science fiction to science reality,” Philip Lubin, of the University of California Santa Barbara, said in a video about his NASA Innovative Advanced Concept (NIAC) for energy propulsion for interstellar exploration.

“There is no known reason why we can’t do this,” he continued. “There is a roadmap which you can look at in our paper to relativistic flight. The system is completely scalable modularly, built to any size you want from a tiny one to a gigantic one.”

In his paper, Lubin acknowledges the technology wouldn’t immediately used on a Mars mission. Instead, he suggests the system would work on a wafer-thin spacecraft that would be equipped with “integrated optical communications, optical systems and sensors combined with directed energy propulsion.”

“We have to radically rethink our strategy or give up our dreams of reaching the stars, or wait for technology that does not exist,” Lubin wrote in a paper about the technology. “While we all dream of human spaceflight to the stars in a way romanticized in books and movies, it is not within our power to do so, nor it is clear that this is the path we should choose.”

Related: Elon Musk set to unveil Mars spacecraft later this year

Lubin and his team have received a proof of concept grant from NASA to demonstrate the system could work and he is already dreaming of one day sending these probes to the furthest reaches of the solar system.

“We could propel a 100 kilogram robotic craft to Mars in a few days. If you want to push something like shuttle class, it takes you roughly in order of month to get there,” he said. “Within 25 year light of Earth, there are actually quite a few potential exoplanets and habitable things to visit - that may be habitable. We don’t know of course. There are many targets to choose from. The closest is Alpha Centauri, which is about four light years away.”


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PeterS

Once you got going that fast how would you stop? You could probably reach the planet in three days but it would take you three years to stop and by then you would be to Jupiter...

missinglink Loc: Tralfamadore

Interesting question? I haven't a clue.

Worried for our children Loc: Massachusetts

Great question. Maybe a sail and a laser are at each end of the ship? We would have to test it right? Why not send an unmanned test ship into open space, and see if something makes contact with it? Astronauts have reported seeing some weird things. Answer an age old question.

Little Ball of Hate

Aren't there better things to spend that money on?

PeterS

Well, I just mean, imagine reaching a speed fast enough to make it there in three days and then having to slam on the breaks! Any life form would splatter from the force of deceleration so you would have to do it slow enough that it wouldn't effect the human body. That means it has to be done over a period of years, and thinking about it, acceleration would have to be done over a matter of years too otherwise you would get squished against the back of your seat so hard you would be a puddle of cells. This is more suited for deep space travel where you are trying to knock some time off of the light years needed to get some place. Interesting concept, just not for hopping from planet to planet...

PeterS

Is there? We keep talking about making America great again. The moon program was one of the greatest scientific achievements this country ever made. It truly was a 'giant leap' for mankind. To be great again we have to go back to doing the things that made this country great not shirking away from them...

reconreb Loc: America / Inglis Fla.

Very interesting reply , " To be great again we have to go back to what made this country great not shrinking from them" Under your post the little qoute about the flag and bible , just a little hypocritical don't you think,, Very interesting ..

Mom8052 Loc: Lost in the mountains of New Mexico

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My hubby brought up a really good point, we would probably find someone living up there, be nice and bring them back home where they would have to be put on Welfare because no one would hire them!!! :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :-o :roll: :roll: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink:

northernlights

Possibly what would propel you forward would also go in reverse???Interesting question though, one may
have to consider gravity(the lack there of) and changing the interior pressure?

As for the people I would think, aerospace robots.

missinglink Loc: Tralfamadore

Good point. It's incredibly expensive to transport the mass humans require. Robotics would be a very good answer. A I is developing rapidly at ever increasing paces which makes robotics even more adaptable to our needs.

missinglink Loc: Tralfamadore

Even if humans do not cause our eventual demise on this world, the physical laws of the universe will. Not if but when. Earth has had mass extinctions before and that's fact.
Having all our eggs in one basket is asking for it. There is nothing you or I or anyone else can do to protect our world from its own natural forces much less those massive universal forces.
It would be prudent to spread out.

missinglink Loc: Tralfamadore

Valid point :mrgreen: