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Old 04-07-2020, 08:53 PM
alfa015 (Alberto)
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I designed a crewed interstellar spacecraft

Hi everybody,

I would like to share with you a crewed interstellar spacecraft which I have designed and called Solar One.

It employs a combination of 3 propulsion methods: nuclear fusion, beam-powered propulsion , and photon propulsion.

Basically, several compact fusion reactors power a laser system that propels a huge light sail.

Physicist Robert Forward already proposed in 1983 to use a 26-TW laser system to propel a 100-km light sail, a fresnel lens to focus the beam of the laser, and decelerate the spacecraft with a secondary light sail.

I propose something a bit different, which is to use to use for example a 60 TW-laser to propel a 5-km light sail that would deploy from the spacecraft after the acceleration stage, use parabolic mirrors that gradually change their orientation in order to focus the laser beam, and finally use a photon rocket to decelerate the spacecraft.

In theory, it could be possible to achieve 25% the speed of light, reaching the closest potentially habitable exoplanet in less than 20 years.

There are of course many challenges, like building high-energy continuous-wave lasers, reducing the weight of the nuclear fusion reactors (and of course achieving effective nuclear fusion first), and minimizing the effects of zero gravity during such a long trip.

What do you guys suggest to overcome these challenges?

This is my paper and a short video that summarizes all:

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Old 05-07-2020, 08:57 AM
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Interesting and who knows who may be inspired and contribute such that at some point in the future what seems fantasy today can become a reality.
I applaud you for working on the matter.
Good luck.
Alex
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Old 05-07-2020, 09:16 AM
Imme (Jon)
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Really impressive video....well done, today’s ideas are tomorrow’s reality.
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Old 05-07-2020, 01:53 PM
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Kal (Andrew)
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On a related topic, anyone else here heard of the Breakthrough Starshoot project? It was founded in 2016 by Stephen Hawking, Mark Zuckerberg, and Yuri Milner.


The goal of the project is similar to this one, albeit using spaceships that weigh just a few grams, literally. With a much more modest 100GW laser, and a small solar sail of just 5 square meters, they plan to launch these probes to speeds of 15-20% the speed of light in just 10 seconds at 10,000 g-force
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Old 06-07-2020, 12:30 PM
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Hi Alberto,
can I book a window seat on your spacecraft?


cheers
Allan
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Old 07-07-2020, 09:56 PM
alfa015 (Alberto)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alpal View Post
Hi Alberto,
can I book a window seat on your spacecraft?


cheers
Allan
haha yes, but 15 years in a small spacecraft will be hard

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Originally Posted by Kal View Post
On a related topic, anyone else here heard of the Breakthrough Starshoot project? It was founded in 2016 by Stephen Hawking, Mark Zuckerberg, and Yuri Milner.


The goal of the project is similar to this one, albeit using spaceships that weigh just a few grams, literally. With a much more modest 100GW laser, and a small solar sail of just 5 square meters, they plan to launch these probes to speeds of 15-20% the speed of light in just 10 seconds at 10,000 g-force
Yes, they are conducting research on several of the issues mentioned for Solar One, such as protecting the spacecraft from dust and micro-asteroids.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Imme View Post
Really impressive video....well done, today’s ideas are tomorrow’s reality.
Thanks a lot !

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Originally Posted by xelasnave View Post
Interesting and who knows who may be inspired and contribute such that at some point in the future what seems fantasy today can become a reality.
I applaud you for working on the matter.
Good luck.
Alex
Thank you very much.

Last edited by RB; 08-07-2020 at 05:11 AM.
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Old 18-07-2020, 08:28 AM
alfa015 (Alberto)
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I hope you enjoyed the video
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Old 25-07-2020, 11:44 AM
alfa015 (Alberto)
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My arXiv preprint on a crewed interstellar spacecraft

As some of you might know, I have designed a crewed interstellar spacecraft that I call Solar One.



Basically, large flexible mirrors placed near the Sun would propel a one-mile light sail with a 4–crew spacecraft of 300 tons.



To decelerate, an on-board compact fusion reactor would power a photon rocket placed at the front of the spacecraft that would 1) help decelerate and 2) ionize space hydrogen for the nuclear reactor.



A Bussard scoop also placed at the front of the spacecraft would 1) collect those protons (ionized hydrogen) and 2) decelerate the spacecraft.



Solar One would achieve an average of 22% the speed of light, which would allow the crew to reach the closest potentially habitable exoplanet in less than 19 years.



Of course cryo-sleep and artificial gravity must be achieved first.



Here is my paper in arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.11474



And here a short movie of Solar One: https://youtu.be/JEf7Z_TLmgU



Feedback is appreciated!
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