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"We are all repositories for genetically-encoded information that we're all spreading back and forth amongst each other, all the time. We're just lousy with information."
- Neal Stephenson
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| Laser Cannon | ||
| A laser source powerful enough to provide significant light pressure to a "light sail." |
The essential problem solved by laser cannon is the transmission of power over a very great distance. Since laser light is very focused, in theory the loss of power over a great distance from the source is reduced.
| "Captain, look," he said, and threw a plot of the local stellar region on the screen. "The intruder came from here. Whoever launched it fired a laser cannon, or a set of laser cannon - probably a whole mess of them on asteroids, with mirrors to focus them - for about forty-five years, so the intruder would have a beam to travel on. The beam and the intruder both came straight in from the Mote. |
| From The Mote in God's Eye,
by Larry Niven (w/J. Pournelle). Published by Simon & Schuster in 1974 Additional resources -
|
The basic idea for the laser cannon/light sail propulsion system belongs to Robert L. Forward, who published a short paper Ground-Based Lasers For Propulsion In Space in 1961. (Read a short autobiography of Robert Forward.)
Leik Myrabo of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has demonstrated that ground-based lasers can be used to shoot objects into the heavens. The small model craft succeeded in reaching over 100 feet, which compares well to the first test flight of a rocket design by Robert Goddard.
Myrabo's "lightcraft" design is a reflective funnel-shaped craft that channels heat from the laser, towards the center, causing it to literally explode the air underneath it, generating lift.
For more on early uses of solar sail, see the entry from Jack Vance's Sail 25, and starlight sail (light sail) from Cordwainer Smith's The Lady who Sailed The Soul.
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from The Mote in God's Eye
More Ideas
and Technology by Larry Niven (w/J. Pournelle)
Tech news articles related to The Mote in God's Eye
Tech news articles related to works by Larry Niven (w/J. Pournelle)
Laser Cannon-related
news articles:
- First Flight of a Laser Powered Airplane
- HELLADS: Lightweight Laser Cannon
- Laser-Powered Aircraft Model Tested
- Laser Propulsion May Beam Spacecraft To Orbit
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| Is This A 'Skylight' Leading To A Lunar Cave? |
| Regolith Excavation Challenge Yields Prize Money |
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Gerry was dubious. She had seen abortive attempts at paralysis rays before.
Let your fingers - uh - your robot do the walking. And hopping.
