This is your last news to see this monthNow you can access all the content for only €3 the first monthAlready a subscriber?Log inYou have news to see this monthYou have 1 news left to see this monthNow you can access all the content for only €3 the first monthAlready a subscriber?Log inESA's Exomars orbiter and probe on Mars./ THISA laser thermal propulsion system, using this technology to heat hydrogen fuel, could cut travel times to Mars to 45 days.This is the conclusion of a team of researchers from McGill University in Montreal who evaluated the potential of this novel propulsion system.Using current technology the travel time reaches six months.Even with nuclear-thermal or nuclear-electric propulsion (NTP/NEP), a one-way transit could take 100 days to reach Mars.The research was led by Emmanuel Duplay, a McGill graduate and current MSc Aerospace Engineering student at TU Delft.The results have recently been submitted to the journal 'Astronomy & Astronomy' and are available on arXiv.In recent years, directed energy (DE) propulsion has been the subject of considerable research and interest.There is a concept for a laser-electric spacecraft that is being investigated by NASA and as part of a collaborative study between UCSB (University of California Santa Barbara and MIT).For this application, lasers are used to deliver power to photovoltaic arrays on a spacecraft, which is converted into electricity to power a Hall-effect thruster (ion engine).This idea is similar to a nuclear-electric propulsion (NEP) system, where a laser array takes the place of a nuclear reactor.As Duplay explained to Universe Today, their concept is related but different: "Our approach is complementary to these concepts in that it uses the same phased array laser concept, but would use a much more intense laser flux on the spacecraft." to directly heat the propellant, similar to a giant steam boiler.This allows the spacecraft to accelerate rapidly while still close to Earth, so the laser doesn't need to focus as far out into space."Our spacecraft is like a racing car that accelerates very fast while still close to Earth.We think we can even use the same laser-powered rocket engine to return the booster to Earth orbit, after you've launched the main rover to Mars, allowing you to quickly recycle it for the next launch."In this sense, the concept proposed by Duplay and his colleagues is similar to a nuclear-thermal propulsion (NTP) system, where the laser has taken the place of a nuclear reactor.In addition to hydrogen propellant and DE, the mission architecture for a thermal laser spacecraft includes several technologies from other architectures.As Duplay noted, they include “fiber-optic lasers that act as a single optical element, inflatable space structures that can be used to focus the laser beam as it reaches the spacecraft heating chamber, and the development of high-density materials. temperatures that allow the spacecraft to break through the Martian atmosphere on arrival.This last item is essential since there is no laser array on Mars to slow down the spacecraft once it reaches Mars."The inflatable reflector is a key to other directed energy architectures: designed to be highly reflective, it can support higher laser power per unit area than a photovoltaic panel, making this mission feasible with an array size of modest laser compared to electric laser propulsion," added Duplay.By combining these elements, a laser-thermal rocket could enable very fast transits to Mars that would be as short as six weeks, something previously thought possible only with nuclear-powered rocket engines.The most immediate benefit is that it presents a solution to the dangers of deep space transits, such as prolonged exposure to radiation and microgravity.