Ion drives are a form of this isn't it.
I'd think you'd start out slow but have the potential of going very fast over time.
2007-07-19 15:18:19 · 13 answers · asked by Sean 7 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
but your still dealing with very low amounts of inertia energy (huh?)
the amount of energy that you use to create that would not be enough to accelarate anything with a decent mass.
2007-07-19 15:21:18 · answer #1 · answered by devinthedragon 5 · 0⤊ 3⤋
A light drive engine is called a solar sail. The space ship extends a huge very thin reflective Mylar sail and the pressure of light and radiation from the sun propels the ship. To increase the speed a huge land based laser can be used. Why travel through space with a heavy engine when you can leave it behind.
An ion drive uses electricity to operate. The engine propels itself by expelling charged particles (they are ionized). The charge on the particles repels the spaceship and throwing them out the rear also provides propulsion. Since this can be done for a long time with only a small amount of particles an ion engine can reach a very high speed if you run it long enough and it doesn't take a lot of fuel to get it going.
The Pluto exploration craft, Horizons, is an ion powered spacecraft. It was the first time that engine was ever used and it has been thrusting continually for over a year. It now holds the record for the fastest moving man made object.
A solar sail could provide similar power, but it would only be useful within the orbit of Jupiter unless you had a huge space based laser to power it. The big advantage of a solar cell is that no engine is required, the star is the engine, there is therefore no fuel either, which is a huge limiting factor on rockets.
Another proposed experimental space drive is the Orion Drive, which would provide a very rough ride. It was used in the Movie Deep Impact by their space craft. An Orion drive uses a huge metallic dish that can withstand a whole lot of force and absorb a whole lot of radiation. Then an atomic bomb is dropped out the back of the space ship, behind the shield and detonated. The force of the detonation provides the energy.
An antimatter engine would be similar, depending on the volume of antimatter used. No matter how much antimatter is used it creates a big explosion and releases a whole lot of energy. Per gram it is much more powerful than a megatonage hydrogen bomb. In the series Star Trek the ships use that energy and increase it by channeling it through dilithium crystals to form the power source for the warp drive. The biggest problem with this power system is that it requires a force field strong enough to hold all that energy in and channel it properly.
2007-07-19 17:53:17 · answer #2 · answered by Dan S 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Sure. There have been several proposals for using huge sheets of microthin reflective mylar as sails on the solar wind and some on using solar cells to collect energy for an ion drive.
2007-07-19 15:22:03 · answer #3 · answered by Mike1942f 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
yes, google deep space 1, It used xenon gas as fuel and it worked splendidly . the thrust was about equal to the weight of a sheet of notebook paper in your hand but even that was enough to add about 17mph a day to its velocity and it could (fire) this thruster for weeks at a time. Don't be mislead by deep space 9, that was a science fiction show. Deep space 1 was a real probe that worked real well
2007-07-19 16:37:13 · answer #4 · answered by gort20022 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Solar sails do this very thing, and yes they start off slow, then go very fast.
Im theory, you could emit light to push a solar sail, but you would need a lot of light.
2007-07-19 16:37:21 · answer #5 · answered by Mike 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Wasn't there an idea of solar sails on spacecraft a while ago? Same idea kinda
2007-07-19 23:10:51 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes, there are small models that use lasers to ignite under an object and propel it, and other ones using sails to use the cosmic wind.
2007-07-19 15:45:24 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
No. Ion drives charge particles of xenon gas and expel them. In order to propel a rocket forward, you need to expel mass. Photons have no mass :( . However, INDIRECTLY you can use light from other sources to propel you via radiation pressure.
2007-07-19 15:39:03 · answer #8 · answered by Zhuo Zi 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
in theory this would work. one of the wierd properties of light are that although it has no mass, it has momentum (product of mass and velocity). this means that it has the ability to propell mass. you would need an unfathomable amount of light and a good bit of time to reach any practical speed for space travel.
it is a good idea though!
2007-07-19 15:23:58 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Light is pure energy. If it could be harnessed maybe with mirrors it might be used to do the thing. My physics never was much good. If you used mirrors people would always be looking at themselves and not tending to business so maybe it's not so good.
2007-07-19 15:33:26 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
If you were suspended in outer space somewhere, and turned on a flashlight, eventually, you would start moving.
2007-07-19 15:52:01 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋