Russian scientists have proposed a novel way to accelerate a spaceship while in flight – firing a ground-based laser up its backside. The new technique uses a plasma flow caused by laser ablation to ...

It might sound like science fiction, but we already know how to make objects move at near light speed. Physicists do it all the time inside particle accelerators, where they accelerate particles to ...

Leik Myrabo is an aerospace engineering professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute who has demonstrated the feasibility of using ground-based lasers to propel objects into orbit; possibly reducing ...

Photonic Laser Propulsion has had a proof of concept demo it generated 35 micronewtons of thrust using mirrors that generated 3000 times amplification. The low power version would be great for ...

For centuries, space travel has been limited by traditional propulsion methods, with chemical rockets remaining the primary ...

Chinese scientists at Harbin Engineering University have developed a laser propulsion system that promises a new era of submarine technology. Rather than using a propulsion shaft and propellers, the ...

When NASA’s Perseverance Rover landed on Mars in February last year, it had travelled for more than six months in the harsh environment of interplanetary space. In that time, it experienced huge ...

Space launches have evoked the same image for decades: bright orange flames exploding beneath a rocket as it lifts, hovers and takes off into the sky. But an alternative propulsion system proposed by ...

Aerospace engineer Leik Myrabo is absolutely sure lasers are the future of flight, and he's confident we'll be flying at hypersonic speed using beam-powered propulsion within a generation. But experts ...

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