Photon propulsion .... anybody up on the subject?

Question

the main thing i was wondering.... was how fast is this actually going to be able to carry an object?

i tried to calculate the speed but i guess im a dumbass ...

6 months for us to get there now in a conventional shuttle....

and say they can go 30,000 mph 211680000 miles.... so more than enough for mars.... but the photon propulsion says they can get there in a week... so that would be... 1,260,000 mph? That just seems ridiculous..... or am i wrong with my calculations??

Anybody with some ifno please Chime in!

CHEERS

Answer 1

You are far off from what it would really be.

You just don't look at it on the basis of velocity. Rather, you have to look at it on the basis of energy. Now how much energy does a photon have. The more energetic ones are probably at the 4MEV range which would be a gamma photon. One MEV is only 1.603 x 10^-13 joules. So for a gamma photon you have an energy of 6.4 x 10^-13 joules which is not even enough to drive a mosquito.

How much gamma photon would you need to accelerate a spacecraft to 1,260,000 mph? You can figure that out by this;

E = (1/2)mv^2 = N x 6.4 x 10^-13

Where m is the mass that you want to propel to mars; v is you required average velocity to get there in a week and N is the number of photons you need to impart the required energy.

Your trouble does not end up there. You still have to come up with a device that can fully convert the energy of the photon to a useful kinetic energy. Solar cells can convert light energy to electrical energy but what medium would you use to convert electrical energy to kinetic energy to propel your rocket?

Answer 2

I think your calculations are wrong.  Photons are light.  They travel at the speed of light 186,--- miles per sec.

Answer 3

If you're thinking of a solar sail, see the reference.  If not, give some references or details.