Hello, another thread had discussed this, and I have been contemplating the idea for a while, whether it would be possible to use photons to propel a spaceship.
I did some calculations to see how it would work and what energy levels we are talking about, and so I'd like if someone who has a little more insight migt review it and tell me whether its completely wrong?
c = 299792458 m/s
[itex]p_{photon} = \frac{E_{photon}}{c}[/itex]
And for the spacecraft (sc)
[itex]p_{sc} = m_{sc}\cdot v_{sc}[/itex]
So for a single photon shot out with a given energy we have
[itex]\frac{E_{photon}}{c} = m_{sc}\cdot Δv_{sc}[/itex]
A lot of photons will give rise to a total energy E and the final velocity
Giving us
[itex]E = m_{sc}Δv_{sc}\cdot c[/itex]
If we have a spacecraft of 500 000 kg and a final velocity of 10.000 m/s we get
E = 1.4990e+18 J = 1.5e+9 GJ
If we say we have a powersource that cna deliver 300 MW to the propulsion system we would have that it would take approximately 58 days to accelerate to this speed, is that correct?
:D
I did some calculations to see how it would work and what energy levels we are talking about, and so I'd like if someone who has a little more insight migt review it and tell me whether its completely wrong?
c = 299792458 m/s
[itex]p_{photon} = \frac{E_{photon}}{c}[/itex]
And for the spacecraft (sc)
[itex]p_{sc} = m_{sc}\cdot v_{sc}[/itex]
So for a single photon shot out with a given energy we have
[itex]\frac{E_{photon}}{c} = m_{sc}\cdot Δv_{sc}[/itex]
A lot of photons will give rise to a total energy E and the final velocity
Giving us
[itex]E = m_{sc}Δv_{sc}\cdot c[/itex]
If we have a spacecraft of 500 000 kg and a final velocity of 10.000 m/s we get
E = 1.4990e+18 J = 1.5e+9 GJ
If we say we have a powersource that cna deliver 300 MW to the propulsion system we would have that it would take approximately 58 days to accelerate to this speed, is that correct?
:D