On Feb 19, 5:47*pm, "Jonathan" wrote:
"Eric Chomko" wrote in message

...
On Feb 17, 12:01 pm, Brad Guth wrote:



With so much of our national resources going into advanced weapons,
perhaps the good side of all this will eventually create a thousand
fold more powerful laser cannon that can defend Earth from those NEOs
and rogue arrivals that pose a significant threat.

Yeah, add in a bunch of roughneck oil drillers posing as astronauts
and you might have something.
Wait, the movie "Armageddon" already did that...

Have you ever spent any time brousing the various US military websites?
I mean, it's not like they're keeping our military ambitions in space secret.
In fact, it seems they go out of the way to brag about it.

From one of my favorite sites, the Directed Energy Directorate (great name)

And btw some of the key words below are....

"freedom to maneuver in space"
"high-energy lasers"
"long-range strike"
"space deployable laser"
"basketball-sized objects"
"thousand miles into space"

Not even reading between the lines this translates to....

* * *'The US intends to be able to vaporize anything that get's in our way
* * * * * using high-powered lasers based on the ground and in space.'

Directed Energy Directorate

"Freedom to maneuver in space is critical to meeting the United States Air
Force's mission to fly, fight, and win in air, space and cyberspace."

"The Directorate concentrates on improving warfighter capabilities
such as precision engagement, long-range strike, counter electronics,
force protection, and space situational awareness. *Directorate researchers
develop, integrate,and transition technology *that includes high-energy lasers,
high-power microwaves, millimeter waves, beam control, and advanced
optical systems."http://www.kirtland.af.mil/afrl_de/

LARGE MEMBRANE MIRRORS

'This program will demonstrate the performance of a revolutionary
approach to a large aperture, high resolution, space deployable
laser projection system that will reduce optics payload weight
by at least 50% and launch costs proportionately. It will
demonstrate space optics and projection technologies required
for very large aperture, longdwell systems used for situational awareness.."http://www.kirtland.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-070404-038.pdf

STARFIRE OPTICAL RANGE AT KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE

"The SOR operates one of the world's premier adaptive-optics telescopes
capable of tracking low-earth orbiting satellites. The telescope has a
3.5-meter (11.5 feet) diameter primary mirror.." "Using adaptive optics,
the telescope distinguishes basketball-sized *objects at a distance of
1,000 miles into space. It is a major component *of the Air Force Research
Laboratory's Directed Energy *Directorate.http://www.kirtland.af.mil/library/f...t.asp?id=15868

s

Exactly what William Mook needs for his " INTERPLANETARY LASER LIGHT
SAIL"

Our trusty Wlliam Mook will get us there at 1 gee, and in hardly any
time at all.

On Feb 19, 8:59 am, William Mook wrote:
" INTERPLANETARY LASER LIGHT SAIL"

The 63 GW beam bouncing off a laser light sail that's 99.9% reflective
at the operating wavelength (1 micron in this case) beaming energy at
a 20,000 sq m disc (500 ft diam) that masses 1 metric ton and operates
at 420 Kelvin. This boosts a 103 ton payload at nearly 1 gee without
consuming ANY propellant!!

So, the more compact vehicle lands and takes off using laser propelled
rockets. The vehicle then deploys a laser light sail to boost at 1
gee through interplanetary space!

So our 103 ton payload module equipped with a laser light sail,
operating in conjunction with our advanced solar power satellite
network, is capable of sending payloads efficiently across the solar
system.

At 1 gee the moon is only 3 and a half hours away. The planets are
nearly all less than 2 weeks away using this fleet;

Mercury 2 days 5 hours
Venus 1 days 15 hours
Mars 2 days
Ceres 3 days 20 hours
Jupiter 5 days 20 hours
Saturn 8 days 8 hours
Uranus 12 days 8 hours
Neptune 15 days 10 hours

Though efficiencies (and thrust) fall off far from the Sun - without
some sort of lens system in place to recollimate the beams.

Alternatively, larger diameter emitters may be built - and higher
energy levels - which mean larger thrusts.

Which gets us into the realm of travel to the Kuiper Belt, to Pluto
and Beyond. As well as nearby star systems.

Larger diameter emitters close in to the sun, combined with larger
diameter mirrors - 20 sq km and more - operating at the TW levels -
provide a means to send 1,000 ton payloads to nearby stars and slow
them down using 1,000 ton mirror sheets using methods first described
by Bob Forward of Hughes Aircraft.

6 months at 1 gee gets to half light speed.

After 8.6 years of travel time - assuming Alpha Centuari is our
destination then,

6 months at 1 gee slows the payload to rest in the target star system,
while accelerating the larger portion of the laser light sail to over
87% the speed of light.

The payload deploys a laser power satellite into the Centauri System,
which then uses light from the Cenauri star to sail to a convenient
spot above the stellar surface - to create a counter-propagating beam
back toward Earth. This beam is used by the spacecraft to visit
locations in the Centauri system and then return home.

Accelerating for 6 months at 1 gee to get up to half light speed.

After another 8.6 years of cruising the spacecraft arrive near Sol.

The solar laser power satellite beams energy to the spacecraft for six
months, slowing it at a 1 gee rate for 6 months - bringing it to rest
relative to the Solar system - and then driving it to whatever planet
its returning to (presumably Earth)

I for one happen to like it, and I'd even help fund it with my 50/50
matching of public loot to go along with Mook’s cache of Rothschild
private loot.

~ BG