The Montgomery Scott fan in me is jumping for joy at this news. The part of me that remembers that NASA is a government agency is worried. Can they uhm...TEST this on something else? I don¹t really wanna know about the mission that overshot Mars and is ³out there somewhere² as a result of a nav system built by the lowest bidder.
On 9/19/07 3:17 PM, "Brent Wodehouse" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > http://dialog.newsedge.com/newsedge.asp?site=2006121916143901110346&block=fold > erstory&briefs=off&action=XMLStoryResult&smd=true&storyid=p0906509.2rw&rtcrdat > a=off > <http://dialog.newsedge.com/newsedge.asp?site=2006121916143901110346&block > =folderstory&briefs=off&action=XMLStoryResult&smd=true&storyid > =p0906509.2rw&rtcrdata=off> > > 9/6/2007 4:20:33 PM --- PR Newswire > > Photon Propulsion Breakthrough Could Cut Mars Transit From Six Months to a > Week > > PR Newswire via NewsEdge Corporation : > > TUSTIN, Calif., Sept. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- The aerospace industry has taken > notice of a California researcher who, using off-the-shelf components, > built and successfully demonstrated the world's first successful amplified > photon thruster. Dr. Young Bae of the Bae Institute first demonstrated his > Photonic Laser Thruster (PLT) with an amplification factor of 3,000 in > December, 2006. > > Major aerospace agencies and primary contractors have since invited Bae to > present his work, including NASA JPL, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research > Projects Agency), and AFRL (Air Force Research Laboratory). Senior > Aerospace Engineer at AFRL, Dr. Franklin Mead, "Dr. Bae's PLT > demonstration and measurement of photon thrust (is) pretty incredible. I > don't think anyone has done this before. It has generated a lot of > interest." > > Recently, the Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, a peer-reviewed AIAA > (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics) (http://www.aiaa.org) > Journal, accepted Dr. Bae's PLT demonstration paper, "Photonic Laser > Propulsion: Proof-of-Concept Demonstration" for publication this year. In > his paper Bae documents in explicit detail how he overcame the inherent > inefficiencies of traditional photon thrusters in generating thrust by > amplification with the use of an innovative optical cavity concept. For > decades rocket scientists have tried to overcome the inefficiency of > photon thrusters by amplification based on optical cavities separated from > laser sources, but failed. In contrast, Bae's patent-pending PLT > breakthrough places the laser medium within a resonant optical cavity > between two platforms to produce a very stable and reliable thrust that is > unaffected by mirror movement and vibration -- ideal for spacecraft > control or propulsion. > > Dr. Bae will be presenting his PLT concepts, demonstration, and > applications at the AIAA Space 2007 Conference 18-19 September 2007 in > Long Beach, CA, in four sessions: Space Transportation Systems, Promising > Space Concepts from the NASA Institute of Advanced Concepts (NIAC), Space > Systems for the Next 50 Years, and Advanced Vehicle Systems. > > The PLT research was partially funded by NIAC (NASA Institute of Advanced > Concepts) as part of a spacecraft formation flight concept grant. > > Bae's PLT demonstration produced a photon thrust of 35 uN, which is > sufficient for several space missions currently envisioned, and is > scalable to achieve much greater photon thrust for future space missions. > Applications for PLT include: highly precise satellite formation flying > configurations for building large synthetic apertures in space for earth > or space observation, precision contaminant-free spacecraft docking > operations, and propelling spacecraft to unprecedented speeds greater than > 100 km/sec. > > Bae, looking forward with anticipation, observes, "This is the tip of the > iceberg. PLT has immense potential for the aerospace industry. For > example, PLT powered spacecraft could transit the 100 million km to Mars > in less than a week." Several aerospace players have expressed intent to > collaborate with the Bae Institute to further develop and integrate PLT > into civilian, military, and commercial space systems. > > Laboratory photo images available for download: > http://gallery.ejwassoc.com/uploads/8745-R1-01-1.jpg > > Background: > > The Bae Institute was founded in 2002 by Dr. Young K. Bae for the purpose > of developing highly innovative space technologies for commercial and > government applications. Dr. Bae has pursued advanced propulsion concepts > such as photon, antimatter and fusion propulsion for more than 20 years at > SRI International, Brookhaven National Lab, and the Air Force Research Lab > after obtaining a Ph.D. in atomic and nuclear physics from UC Berkeley. > > SOURCE Bae Institute > > CONTACT: Dr. Young K. Bae, Bae Institute, [EMAIL PROTECTED] > <mailto:ykBae%40Baeinstitute.com> , +1- > 714-838-2881 > > <<PR Newswire -- 09/07/07>> > Copyright © 2007 PR Newswire > > Copyright © 2007 Acquire Media. All rights reserved. > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
