This thruster covers the underside of a rocket aeroshell with a lightweight microwave absorbent heat exchange layer that may double as a re-entry heat shield. By illuminating the layer with microwaves ...

By use of a remote laser or microwave source, beamed energy can be directed toward a space sail. In space, the laser or microwave source may be provided by a satellite or other type of spacecraft.

According to Parkin, who is an Escape Dynamics adviser and who wrote his own Ph.D. thesis on microwave thermal propulsion, a beamed energy propulsion system is capable of producing 2.5 times as much ...

Broomfield, Colorado-based Escape Dynamics announced July 17 it carried out a small-scale test in the laboratory of its beamed microwave thruster. In that test, the company beamed microwave energy ...

Benford will give details on the unique project at the First International Symposium on Beamed-Energy Propulsion (ISBEP) Wednesday, Nov. 6, at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

NASA is now conducting a study to examine the possibility of using beamed energy propulsion for space launches. The study is expected to conclude by March. In a traditional chemical rocket ...

NASA is now conducting a study to examine the possibility of using beamed energy propulsion for space launches. The study is expected to conclude by March 2011.

By utilising a beam concentrator to intensify the incident microwave radiation, controlled plasma ignition and subsequent propulsion performance have been achieved, indicating promising avenues ...

Rocket propulsion hasn't changed much in decades, but a group of young scientists think that beamed microwave energy could power a new generation of rockets, leading to lower costs and opening ...

Startup Escape Dynamics has folded, and with it plans to use microwave energy beamed from the ground to power a small single-stage-to-orbit reusable launch vehicle into space.

A beamed thermal propulsion system would involve focusing microwave or laser beams on a heat exchanger aboard the rocket. The heat exchanger would transfer the radiation's energy to the liquid ...