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Beaming to Mars, home for dinner
Oct 22, 2004 22: 37 EST
Published Oct 20, 2004 17: 39 EST
OK, so we want to go to space. But orbit gets boring. And going to Mars will take 3 years. Forget about other solar systems. What to do? How about MagBeam Propulsion - To Mars And Back In 90 Days!
University of Washington has the scoop
Magnetized-beam plasma propulsion, or magbeam propulsion, could cut the time required for long journeys around the solar system from years to weeks. The technology is currently developed at the University of Washington.
Leave the gas tank behind
People usually think of a spacecraft as a ship with both payload and power source. The MagBeam system separates these two logical units; the power source stays in one place (for example, in permanent orbit around the Earth). Spacecraft are pushed to other parts of the solar system.
Pushed to 26,000 miles per hour
Think a gas station, but more a "push station': one power source could be used to power multiple craft (serially, not at the same time). Collected solar energy would power Plasma propellants accelerating to speeds an order of magnitude greater than those achieved by chemical rocket propellants, resulting in higher spacecraft velocities - at least 26,000 miles per hour.
A solar station franchise, with quick food stops?
For the system to work, there will have to be stations placed around the solar system:
The system requires a power source at each end of a journey; one to accelerate the spacecraft at the start and another at the destination, to decelerate it.
The spacecraft simply coasts during the journey from planet to planet. Once MagBeam power sources were placed at destinations around the solar system, the system could be operated using solar power alone.
A hefty initial investment
The units could be placed around the solar system by missions already planned by NASA. One could be used as an integral part of a research mission to Jupiter, for instance, and then left in orbit there when the mission is completed.
Units placed farther out in the solar system would use nuclear power to create the ionized plasma; those closer to the sun would be able to use electricity generated by solar panels.
Although the initial infrastructure will be a hefty investment, once they are in place, their power sources should allow them to generate plasma indefinitely and space crafts would no longer have to carry their own propulsion systems.
Permanent human presence in space
They would get up to speed quickly with a strong push from a plasma station, then coast at high speed until they reach their destination, where they would be slowed by another plasma station, resulting in a permanent human presence in space.
The UW selling point: high power radio frequency waves
MagBeam depends upon a highly collimated plasma beam. The high power helicon (HPH) under development at the University of Washington is state-of-the-art electrodeless plasma thruster, which allows very high power to be developed over long periods with little erosion of the system.
The plasma is generated by high power radio frequency waves; it is substantially smaller than other plasma thrusters.
Test mission before 2010
A test mission is up within 5 years if funding remains consistent. If it works, quick trips to distant parts of the solar system could become routine, said Robert Winglee, a UW Earth and space sciences professor who is leading the project.
A space-based station would generate a stream of magnetized ions that would interact with a magnetic sail on a spacecraft and propel it through the solar system at high speeds that increase with the size of the plasma beam.
A control nozzle 32 meters wide would generate a plasma beam capable of propelling a spacecraft at 11.7 kilometers per second. That translates to more than 26,000 miles an hour or more than 625,000 miles a day.
To make such high speeds practical, another plasma unit must be stationed on a platform at the other end of the trip to apply brakes to the spacecraft.
Image: In this artist’s conception, a plasma station (lower left) applies a magnetized beam of ionized plasma to a spacecraft bound for Jupiter. Courtesy University of Washington.
Story adapted in parts from University of Washington and Technovelgy.com.
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