How does one calculate the necessary surface area for a laser-propelled light sail for a spacecraft, so it doesn’t get shredded by the beam? (lemmy.world)

submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

3 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Edit: I assume we’d at least have to take intended acceleration and the mass of the spacecraft into account, at least, right?

top 3 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Sometimes it is best to go to source papers as lemmy/kbin does not handle complex formula well.

Here is a link to a relevant paper:

Theory of light sail acceleration by intense lasers

Another paper on the effectiveness of various materials in solar sail production:

Multilayers for directed energy accelerated lightsails

[-] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

So let’s say the spacecraft itself is about 1 billion metric tonnes, the sail is made of 7 layers containing titanium oxide and magnesium difluoride, the beam can keep itself consistent, and the intended acceleration is 1g…

[-] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

I assume pressure is pressure is pressure even in space? We measure tensile strength in MPa.

this post was submitted on 12 Dec 2023

21 points (100.0% liked)

AskPhysics

440 readers

1 users here now

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]