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Arthur Kantrowitz, Founder of Laser Propulsion       

Arthur Kantrowitz passed away on November 29, 2008 in New York City.  He was 95 years old.  A founder of Avco Everett Research Laboratories, inventor of ablative rocket nose cones (reentry protection), champion of Science Court and professor of Dartmouth College, Kantrowitz will be always remembered as a forefront figure of American scientific community of 20th century.  However, in this brief note I would like to say few words about one of his greatest contributions to mankind: his key role in development of laser propulsion.

Laser Propulsion is a part of rocket science, but don’t be discouraged by a silly tag: the idea is simple.  We pay on average $10,000 per every pound of payload delivered to low earth orbit.  Why that much?  Because we use very inefficient carriers: chemical rockets.  These hydrogen gluttons have to carry everything onboard: fuel, oxidizer, cryogenics, tanks, lines, you name it, leaving a small (and very expensive) room for the payload.  If only we could separate the source of “burning” energy from the vehicle, deliver this energy from outside, the savings on weight and efficiency will be tremendous.

This can be done using energy transfer with laser beams.  This idea was originally formulated in 1924 by Russian genius of space science Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, who believed that beams of light could serve as a source of external energy for driving space rockets, eliminating that way the burden of fuel onboard and making a rocket much lighter, and hence, more efficient.  The idea of light-beaming energy to a rocket in 1924 was just a dream, half-century later Arthur Kantrowitz presented the world with scientifically sound plan for turning this dream into reality.

In 1972 Arthur Kantrowitz published a paper in scientific journal Astronautics and Aeronautics, entitled  “Propulsion to Orbit by Ground Based Lasers”.  This work started a new field: laser propulsion.  In this paper Kantrowitz proposed to change our very approach to space launches: instead of building larger (and even less energy-efficient rockets), start using high-power lasers for space launches of small satellites.  Such satellites would literally straddle the tip of laser beam, focused on their “propellant” area.  When high power laser beam is focused (even loosely) on a solid matter, such matter is evaporated and ionized almost instantaneously, i.e. the release of energy is much higher than one used from burning hydrogen in rockets.  So, laser-driven vehicle will be still flying on the same rocket principle, but exhaust energy and structural lightness will be incomparably superior to hydrogen-burning rockets.

A rocket driven by laser will be composed of very light focusing mirrors, relatively small (energy efficient) solid propellant and, voila: the rest will be payload!  Forget heavy liquefied gases (oxygen and hydrogen), cryogenics, fuel tanks and lines, combustion chambers, etc.: Payload, Propellant and Photons, Period! an essence of laser propulsion (one which you can see in our logo) was introduced by Arthur Kantrowitz, who called it 4P Rule.  So what are the gains of laser propulsion, comparing to hydrogen burners?  Scientifically sound calculations have shown that the price of one pound of a payload delivered to low earth orbit will drop to $100.  Laser propulsion offers 100-fold, revolutionary savings on space deliveries!

The paper of Dr. Kantrowitz from 1972 marked the beginning of a new scientific quest.  In early seventies Kantrowitz has initiated first research program on laser propulsion at Avco-Everett Research Labs, which for over a decade was the only research program in this field in the world.  Later other projects ensued, first laser-propelled vehicles were launched (not into space yet, but high enough to prove the viability of an idea), other countries (Russia, Japan, Germany, China) and hundreds of scientists and engineers worldwide joined the quest for laser propulsion (and other forms of beamed-energy propulsion, such as microwave propulsion).  However, we should always remember one man who started it all: Arthur Kantrowitz, the founder of laser propulsion.

written and posted by Andrew V. Pakhomov

For more reading about Prof. Kantrowitz, please see AIAA Release,  Los Angeles Times article.

Read keynote talk of Dr. Kantrowitz at ISBEP 1: Arthur Kantrowitz, The World, The Flesh and The Devil, Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Beamed Energy Propulsion, ed. by Andrew V. Pakhomov, American Institute of Physics Conference Proceedings, v. 664, Melville, NY, 2003, pp.3-7.

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