The Path to Transformational Space Exploration (In 2 Volumes) (World Scientific Series on Emerging Technologies: Avram Bar-cohen Memorial)

In this book Professor Lubin lays out the fundamental physics and mathematics required to radically alter our capabilities in propulsion to enable extreme high-speed space flight both in our solar system and beyond. The case is made that the only currently viable solution to enable this transformation, including relativistic flight for the first interstellar robotic missions, is using large-scale directed energy. Traditional methods of propulsion are not capable of achieving the speed required for these missions, including fast crewed missions to Mars as well as the many robotic missions desired both in our solar system and to the nearest stars. Humanity has now reached a technological tipping point with the ability to project power over vast distances with transformational implications in a wide variety of areas, from propulsion to beaming power throughout our solar system to planetary defence. In a series of over 60 technical papers, the fundamentals of this transformation are outlined and synthesized in this book, allowing a detailed understanding of the many challenges ahead and a roadmap for human exploration far beyond our solar system. While the road ahead is long and challenging, it provides the path to radically alter humanity's future.Related Link(s) Volume 1 : Fundamentals of Directed Energy Contents Preface Acknowledgments List of Figures Chapter 1. Introduction Directed Energy Approaches Phased Array Laser Modularity and Scalability Exponential Growth in Photonics is Key Transformative Ideas and Exponential Growth Long Coherence Length Amplifiers Array Site Location Chapter 2. Physics of Photon Propulsion Laser Aperture Flux Acceleration Time and Energy Implications Spacecraft and Sail Kinetic Energy Photon Recycling Relativistic Corrections Relativistic Solution Final Speed Closed-Form Solution Optimization of Reflector and Spacecraft Mass in the Relativistic Limit Energy and Momentum Transfer: Photon–Electron Interactions Chapter 3. Optical Design Beam Efficiency and Sidelobes Square Aperture Gaussian Beam Circular Aperture Phased Array Optical Response Function Large Target Field Large Aperture Phased Arrays Phased Array Shading Array Fraction Utilization Self-illumination: Self-shadowing Case Dynamic Array Reconfiguration Energy Required per Launch Efficiency Using Circular Polarized Radiation to Spin Payload Sail Temperature Levitation and Low Acceleration Tests Scaling Chapter 4. Laboratory Scale Testing Achieving Laboratory Speeds Above 100 km/s Photon Accelerator Aerodynamic Heating of Sail in Laboratory Testing Gas Hits Along Photon Accelerator Pipe Drag Pressure Scaling of Drag Force Drag Power Scaling of Drag Power Wind Tunnel Testing High Acceleration Testing Using Gas Acceleration Comparison Long Baseline Beam Formation Testing Eye Safety Limits in Ground Testing Rayleigh and Particulate Backscatter Reflector Back Illumination Hazards Sidelobes: Hazards to Aircraft and Satellites Chapter 5. Ground Testing and Deployment Ground-Based Atmospheric Perturbations: Fried Parameter and Seeing Variation of Fried Length with Zenith Angle Isoplanatic Angle Constant Perturbation: Fixed c2n Case Modeling the Earth’s Atmosphere Case Where c2n Scales with Atmospheric Density Case Where c2n Scales with a Power Law of Atmospheric Density Sum of Power Laws: Case Where c2n Scales with Different Power Laws with Atmospheric Density and Scale Factor at Different Heights Sum of Power Laws: Case Where c2n Scales with a Different Powers vs. Altitude High Altitude Vehicle Case Options Approximations to C2n: Hufnagel-Valley and Related Models Atmospheric Scintillation: Rytov Number Fried Parameter: Seeing and Rytov Variance from Army Clear 1 Data Atmospheric Wind vs. Altitude Greenwood wind model Horizontal wind direction Standard Bufton Wind Model Parameters Greenwood Frequency and First-Order AO Loop Closure Bandwidth Strehl Ratio and Perturbations Atmospheric Refraction Index of Refraction and Dispersion Relationship Corrections to the Index of Refraction of Air Atmospheric Transmission Thermal Blooming First Principles Analysis Energy Considerations Example — sea level air: Beam Perturbations Due to Changes in the Index of Refraction Effect on Target Flux Scaling Relations and Atmospheric Modeling Example of large array: Wind Speed Modeling Single Wind Speed Exponential Multiple Wind Speed Exponential Model Propagation Timescales of Thermal Blooming Scaling of Blooming Parameter with Array Size: Photon Propulsion Need for High Fidelity Multi-physics Simulation Servo Control Mitigation: Exo-atmospheric Target Chapter 6. Launch Options Dispensing with the Orbital Dispenser Drone and Balloon Launch Option Upper Atmosphere Launch Options Prior to Space Launch Ablation Drive Prior to Photon Drive Suborbital Tests Balloon Launch Scenario Orbital Tests Space Launch Option for Ground-Based Array Chapter 7. Reflectors Subwavelength Reflectors Reflectors with Both Absorption and Reflection Sail Temperature Hot Reflector Thrust: Additional Photon Thrust Isothermal Homogeneous Reflector Generalized Shape Reflectors Bubble: Spherical Reflectors Pressure on Sail and Flux Gas-Inflated Reflectors Material Stress in Thin Wall Vessels Reflector Diameter and Thickness vs. Material Strength and DE System Power Common Materials Mylar Strength vs. Temperature Glass Gorilla Glass (Corning): Xensation (Schott) and Other Chemically Treated Glass Silicon Graphene Mass of Gas Inside Sphere Gas Density and Pressure Gradient Due to Acceleration Using Pressure Gradient to Reduce Gas Mass Using Pressure Gradient to Reduce Reflector Mass Compression of Windward Side Beam Taper to Optimize Reflector Mass Adiabatic Heating of Gas Due to Acceleration Using Adiabatic Gas Heating to Reduce Gas Mass Scaling with Mass Acoustical Gas Mo Gas Heating from Illumination Using Gas Heating from Illumination to Reduce Gas Mass Rotation Effects Sphere Comparing Translational and Rotational Energy Disk Uniform thickness disk Note that the rotational stress in a sphere is comparable to a disk of the same size Different Rotation Symmetries: Disks vs. Sphere Vibrational Modes and Damping Charged Reflectors Charged Sail Demo Other Sail Support Structures Shaped Reflectors for Propulsion and Communications Chapter 8. Pointing and Course Correction Transverse Course Correction Using Mass Ejection and Photon Thruster Cases Mass ejection thrusters Photon Thrusters Direct RTG Photon Thruster Ratio of Transverse Distance Between Mass Ejection and Photon Thrusters Chapter 9. Acceleration and Deceleration Dual Laser System Shuttle: Ping-Pong Mode Travel to Mars at 1 gee: Ping-Pong Mode Cost of electricity to get to Mars at 1 gee Chapter 10. Relay Mode for Communication Reliability of Relay Mode Chapter 11. Radiation Effects Cosmic-ray Bombardment Cosmic-Ray Composition ISM Boosting and Transverse Bombardment Transforming to Spacecraft Coordinate System Raised-Edge Shield ISM Impact Rate Electron Penetration Proton Penetration Secondary Particle Production Device Radiation Tolerance Rads and dE/dx and Impact Flux ISM Impact Battery ISM Radiation Dose on Reflector Nuclear and Electronic Impact Ionization Losses X-ray Production from ISM Impacts Photon Production by Charged Particle Impacts Incident Electrons Electron Impacts Causing Bremsstrahlung Penetration of X-rays View Factor X-ray Penetration in Various Materials Incident ISM Proton Bremsstrahlung ISM Reflector Dust Impact Damage Chapter 12. Spacecraft Power Sources Radioisotope Thermal Generators (RTG) Example: Plutonium 238: Radioisotope Betavoltaics ISM Proton and Electron Bombardment Thermal Conversion Photovoltaic from Laser Illumination Protovoltaics: ISM Proton Bombardment Electrovoltaics: ISM Electron Bombardment Proton-Induced Fusion on Forward Edge: p-11B Power During the Encounter Phase Total Photovoltaic Energy from Host Star During Encounter PV Power vs Time and Distance of Closest Approach Total RTG Energy During Cruise Phase Comparison of PV and RTG Energy Generation Habitable Zone Considerations Sources of Spacecraft Drag ISM Particle Drag ISM Proton Impact Power Generation ISM Electron Impact Power Generation Thermal to Electrical Conversion Efficiency ISM Dust ISM Magnetic Field Thermal Photon Fluid Drag CMB Drag ISM Starlight Drag Chapter 13. Ground vs. Space Deployment Ground vs. Space Deployment Limitation of Ground-Based Array Deployment Polar Deployment Space-Based Deployment Options Payload Capability Chapter 14. Science Enabled Imaging Capability Imaging Sensitivity Lambertian Emitter Reflected Light from Host Star Imaging IR Thermal Imaging of Planet TRL Advancement Chapter 15. Economics: Cost Analysis Cost Analysis Independence of Costs of System Parameters Approximation Physics of SPi and DO Cost Minimum Depth Understanding the Cost Minimum Why Do the Costs Scale Like This? Materials Strength Limited vs. Manufacturing Limits Fixed Cost Optimization of Speed Relationship Between a1 and a2 for Fixed CT and β0 for the Minimum System Cost A Staged Development Approach Energy Per Shot Cost of Energy Used Cost of Energy Storage Energy Storage for Large Mass Payloads Storage Amortization and Energy Production Costs Cost Analysis Including Energy Used and Energy Storage Cost Comparison to Recent and Past NASA Programs Logical Spacecraft Mass Approach Other Benefits Chapter 16. Vision and Inspiration The Path Forward Chapter 17. Conclusions Appendix A Appendix B Laser Sail: Non-relativistic Solution Circular vs. Square Array General Case of Square or Circular Array and Square, Circular Sail or Spherical Sail Maximizing Speed of Laser-Driven System Solving for t(L) for L > L0 Time vs. distance with continued illumination (L > L0 or t > t0) Thermal Photon Field Drag CMB Zeroth-order Approximations CMB Speedometer Precision Speed Measurement Relative to Heliocenter Photon Recycling Laser power with N bounces per surface: Calculating Speed vs. Distance Summary: Effect of Multiple Reflections (Power and Force Enhancement) Exact Quartic Solution for Relativistic Term Stellar Neighborhood Instructions for Accessing Online Supplementary Material Bibliography Index Volume 2 : Applications of Directed Energy Contents Preface Acknowledgements List of Figures Chapter 1. Optical Design Considerations Near field vs. Far Field — Fresnel vs. Fraunhofer Diffraction Subaperture vs. Full Aperture Diffraction: Far-Field Limits Subaperture Tilt vs. Spacecraft Distance: Rapid Changes in F Number Sail and Beam Shaping Stable Reflector Shapes Sphere Symmetry and Spin Passive Stability Approaches with Angle-Dependent Reflection Coefficient Chapter 2. Intermediate Steps: Deployment Strategy Payload Sizes Ultra Thin Wafer Scale Electronics Road to Monoatomic Electronics and Reflectors Chapter 3. Interactions with the Local Photon Fields Photon-Driven Stellar Sail: Tacking and Navigation Fixed Radial Conservative Field Case Proxima b Non-Conservative Fields: Using the Non-radial Local Angular-Dependent Term to Dissipate the Spacecraft Kinetic Energy Chapter 4. Options for Slowing Down Using Stellar Photon Pressure to Slow Spacecraft Proxima b Case Maneuvering Using Tacking with Stellar Photons Using Exoplanet Atmospheres for Aerobraking Photon Drag Chute: Stopping and Slowing Down for Various Stellar Classes Beyond Graphene Chapter 5. Our Stellar Neighborhood Scouting Flyby Mission’s vs. Orbital Missions Scouting Flyby Mission’s vs. Orbital Missions Chapter 6. Comparing DE Propulsion to Other Options for Non-relativistic Cases Mass Loss Propulsion Achieving High Speed with “Mass Loss” Engines Nuclear Fusion Engines Fission Engines Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Nuclear Reactors Driving Ion Engines Annihilation Engines: Antimatter Perfect Antimatter Engine Annihilation Propulsion When ma  m0 Energy Efficiency Mass Ejection Propulsion: No Gravity Well Behavior and Expansion of Terms Beamed Energy Case Effect of Laser Array and PV Array Size General Propellant Mass Case Gravity Well Case Mass Ejection Propulsion Scaling Laws During the thrusting phase: Ion Engine Infrastructure Mass Launching from the Moon or Mars Solar System Cases Including Stopping at Target System “Alpha” and Mission Performance During the Thrusting Phase: Prior to Fuel Burnout (t ≤ tb) PV Temperature and Laser Illumination Flux Limits for Ion Engine Drive Multiple Propulsion Stages Comparing Photonic Propulsion to Mass Loss Propulsion Comparing Non-relativistic, Relativistic and Ultra-relativistic Ion Engines Ultra-relativistic Exhaust Limit (γ  1, β ∼ 1) General Case Non-relativistic Exhaust Limit Chapter 7. Communications and ISM Science Antenna Temperature Formulation Single Mode Diffraction Limited vs. Multi-mode Antenna Temperature Converting Between Physical Temperature and Antenna Temperature Non-spectrally Resolved Narrow Bandwidth Signal — Laser Communications Signal-Level Received Data Rates vs. Photon Rates: Increasing Peak-to-Average Power ISM Attenuation Due to Gas and Dust Short-Range Interstellar Communications ISM Gas ISM Dust Using Laser Communications as a Probe of the ISM Backgrounds Relevant for Detection Effect of Subdividing Receive Array into N Partially Phased Subarrays Size of Proxima Centauri and Synthesized Aperture Required to Resolve it Importance of Optimizing the Laser Communication Wavelength Importance of Understanding the Exoplanet Orbital Parameters Host Star Background UV Laser Communication: UV Backgrounds Neutral Hydrogen Absorption: Lyman Alpha Thomson Scattering Bound Resonant Scattering: Lyman Alpha Thermal Broadening in the ISM Voigt Profile: Combined Natural and Thermal Profile Cross-Section Classical vs. Quantum Mechanical Corrections Thermal Convolved Cross-Section Large Cross-Section of Lyman Alpha Line Measuring Neutral Hydrogen Density Using Lyman Alpha Exploration of Balmer and Other Absorption Lines Using Uplink to Probe Lyman Alpha and Other Lines Signal to Background Ratio for the Host Star Background SBR vs. Distance for a Mission to Proxima b SBR for Local Stellar Neighborhood Light Bucket vs. Synthesized Array Modes Distant Targets and Close in Orbits The Case of Promixa Centauri The Case for Shorter Laser Communication Wavelengths Imaging Exoplanets Emitted Light Thermal IR Light Scattered by the Planet from the Host Star Extraterrestrial Backgrounds Zodiacal Light Cosmic IR Background Unresolved Stellar Background: Faint Stars Signal and Zodi — Faint Star CIB backgrounds — Multiple subapertures Shorter Wavelength Laser Communication Preferred The Need for Optimized Narrow Bandwidths Doppler Shifts Gravitational Redshift Gravitational Blueshift Tracing Gravitational Potentials Dynamic Filters Optics Background Terrestrial Backgrounds: Comparison to Extraterrestrial Atmospheric Transmission and Radiance Non-LTE Atmospheric Emission Measured Total Sky Background Terrestrial Illumination Signal-to-Background Ratio in General Dependence of Signal and Backgrounds on the System Design Day vs. Night Reception for Ground-Based Reception Comparing to Overall Sky Brightness Telluric Line Emission Optimizing SBR Digging Out the Signal from the Background Scaling of Communications Downlink with Payload Mass and Speed Uplink from Earth to Spacecraft Relativistic Transformations Chapter 8. Beamed Power Applications Beamed Power Mode Beamed Power Modes for Specialized Interplanetary Applications Beamed Lunar Power Point-to-Point Lunar Power Beaming Multiple Targets: Simultaneous vs. Time Multiplexing Wired vs Beamed Power Chapter 9. Wafer-Scale Spacecraft There’s Plenty of Room at the Top: “The Bottom Has Fallen Out” Wafer-Scale Spacecraft Large Diameter Low Mass Wafer-Scale Spacecraft Large Area Photovoltaics Wafer-Level Thrusters for Attitude Control and Maneuvering Photon thrusters Mass ejection thrusters The sail and the spacecraft as one unit Multi-tasking and Multi-modal Operation Chapter 10. Conclusions Appendix A Appendix B Stellar Neighborhood Instructions for Accessing Online Supplementary Material Bibliography Index "In this book Professor Lubin lays out the fundamental physics and mathematics required to radically alter our capabilities in propulsion to enable extreme high-speed space flight both in our solar system and beyond. The case is made that the only currently viable solution to enable this transformation, including relativistic flight for the first interstellar robotic missions, is using large-scale directed energy. Traditional methods of propulsion are not capable of achieving the speed required for rapid missions in our solar system, including fast crewed missions to Mars as well as the many robotic missions desired both in our solar system and to the nearest stars. Humanity has now reached a technological tipping point with the ability to project power over vast distances with transformational implications in a wide variety of areas from propulsion to beaming power throughout our solar system to planetary defence. In a series of over 50 technical papers the fundamentals of this transformation are outlined and synthesized in this book, allowing a detailed understanding of the many challenges ahead and a roadmap to the future direction for human exploration far beyond our solar system. While the road ahead is long and challenging, it provides the path to radically alter humanity's future in ultra-high-speed space exploration"-- Provided by publisher