A Nuclear‐Powered Laser‐Accelerated Plasma Propulsion System

Abstract

Recent experiments at the University of Michigan and other laboratories throughout the world have demonstrated that ultrafast (very short pulse length) lasers can accelerate charged particles to relativistic speeds. The terrawatt laser at the University of Michigan has generated a beam of protons containing more than 1010 particles at a mean energy of over one Mev while the petawatt laser at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has produced proton beams containing more than 1014 particles with maximum energy of 58 Mev and a mean energy of about 6 Mev. Using the latter data as a basis for a present‐day LAPPS (Laser Accelerated Plasma Propulsion System) propulsion device we show that it can produce a specific impulse of several million seconds albeit at a fraction of a Newton of thrust. We show that if the thrust can be increased to a modest 25 Newtons a fly‐by robotic interstellar mission to 10,000 AU can be achieved in about 26 years, while a round trip to Mars will be accomplished in about 6 months. In both instances a one MWe nuclear power system with a mass of about 5 MT will be needed to drive the laser, and the recently announced NASA’s Nuclear Space Initiative should be able to address such reactors in the near future. © 2003 American Institute of Physics