So what is Beamed Energy Propulsion (BEP) and why we have to devote our time and effort to its studies? BEP is achieved when the energy is beamed to the vehicle over a distance from a remote source. The vehicle receives that energy and converts it into mechanical motion in space. Thus the vehicle does not have to carry a traditional energetic fuel, which can be a great advantage, especially in conditions when refueling is not an option. BEP was envisioned in early twenties of past century as a “most enticing” way of rocket propulsion by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, one of the forefathers of space science. Thus, BEP was invented in time when space travel and beamed energy were just subjects of science fiction. Now, over eighty years later, space launch and transportation are the primary areas of application for BEP. The invention and fast development of high-power lasers brought into light a new field of scientific and engineering research, called “Laser Propulsion”. Laser Propulsion became one of most prominent branches of BEP, but it is not the only one. In addition to laser beams, other types of energy transfers using microwave, X-ray and even particle beams are getting explored for BEP. The number of in-lab demonstrations of BEP principles grows every year, and the day when we will achieve in-space BEP demonstration becomes inevitable. For the same time, even now, the field of Beamed Energy Propulsion remains in the realm of futuristic technologies, which means that there are still a plenty of scientific and engineering problems which should be solved before BEP will bring us its benefits. How can we make it happen in the near future and what should be done were some of the major topics for discussion of this symposium.
From A.V. Pakhomov, Preface to Proceedings of Fifth International Symposium on Beamed Energy Propulsion, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, 12-15 November 2007, edited by Andrew V. Pakhomov, AIP Conference Proceedings Vol. 997, American Institute of Physics, Melville, New York (2008), p. ix.
If you would like to know more about BEP:
You can view slides of Introductory lecture on Laser Propulsion by A.V. Pakhomov.
Read Wikipedia about BEP.
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