Future of Engineering

An amplified thruster that could potentially shorten the trip to mars from six months to a week has reportedly attracted the attention of aerospace agencies and contractors. Young bae, founder of the BAE Institute in Tustin, Calif., first demonstrated his Photonic Laser Thruster (PLT), which he built with off-the-shelf components, in December 2007.

The demonstration produced a photon thrust of 35 µn and is scalable to achieve much greater thrust for future space missions, the institute said. Applications 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 -- faster than 100 km/sec.

Several aerospace organizations have expressed interest in collaborating with the institute to further develop and integrate plt into civilian, military and commercial space systems, Bae said.

Keywords: Amplified photon thruster, bae institute, photonic laser thruster (plt), space transportation systems, advanced vehicle systems

Labels: Aerospace-Engineering