How does one calculate the necessary surface area for a laser-propelled light sail for a spacecraft, so it doesn’t get shredded by the beam?
Edit: I assume we’d at least have to take intended acceleration and the mass of the spacecraft into account, at least, right?
3 replies
Sometimes it is best to go to source papers as lemmy/kbin does not handle complex formula well.
Here is a link to a relevant paper:
Theory of light sail acceleration by intense lasers
Another paper on the effectiveness of various materials in solar sail production:
Multilayers for directed energy accelerated lightsails
So let’s say the spacecraft itself is about 1 billion metric tonnes, the sail is made of 7 layers containing titanium oxide and magnesium difluoride, the beam can keep itself consistent, and the intended acceleration is 1g…
I assume pressure is pressure is pressure even in space? We measure tensile strength in MPa.