Gentlefolk, << ...how efficient can you absorb laser light and turn it into heat >>
One also needs to turn the heat into vehicle kinetic energy. The light to heat efficiency should actually be much higher than with transmission and spillover losses the main worries; say around 70%. Heat to vehicle KE in rockets with optimum specific impulse maxes out at around 67%, according a Barney Oliver paper some years ago. That puts the light energy to vehicle kinetic energy efficiency in the 50% ballpark. --Best, Gerald _______________________________________________ ERPS-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.erps.org/mailman/listinfo/erps-list
