harlock Posted April 27, 2017 Share Posted April 27, 2017 (edited) I didn't calculate anything till now, I don't know if radiation pressure is good enough to propel a spacecraft(My question). Obviously I'm talking about radiation pressure coming from radioactive dregs of nuclear fission! How it works? It's sufficient to release radiation in the space to have a propulsion in the opposite direction: it's conservation of quantity of motion because radiation pressure is a palpable quantity of motion! Edited April 27, 2017 by harlock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted April 27, 2017 Share Posted April 27, 2017 Radiation pressure is exceedingly weak. The force one feels is P/c, if that's directed in a linear fashion (e.g. a laser beam) As came up recently in another thread, 1.21 GW gives you ~4N of thrust. Less if it's spread out. Zero if it's isotropic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now