Laser Fine-Adjustment Thruster For Space Vehicles

Abstract

To the present time, a few laser propulsion engine devices have been developed by using dominant mechanisms of laser propulsion. Generally these mechanisms are laser ablation, laser breakdown of gases, and laser detonation waves that are induced due to extraction of the internal energy of polymer propellants. In the paper, we consider the Aero‐Space Laser Propulsion Engine (ASLPE) developed earlier, in which all of these mechanisms are realized via interaction of laser radiation with polymers both in continuous wave (CW) and in repetitively pulsed modes of laser operation. The ASLPE is considered to be exploited as a unit of a laser propulsion device being arranged onboard space vehicles moving around the Earth or in interplanetary missions and intended to correct the vehicles orbits. To produce a thrust, a power of the solar pumped lasers designed to the present time is considered in the paper. The problem of increasing the efficiency of the laser propulsion device is analyzed as applied to space missions of vehicles by optimizing the laser propulsion propellant composition.