A novel zero-G engine that will actually work
Sven Gelbhaar
9:14 AM 3/28/2018
Back in approximately 1906, there was a turbine that spun from Radiation
Pressure. One side of the turbine’s blades were white, and the other side was
black. One side absorbed more of the radiation (a light-bulb in the case of the
1900’s experiment/prototype) and thereby absorbed more momentum from the light
than the other, thereby rotating the device.
I’m surprised nobody has thought of this before me, but what would happen when
one side of the craft was painted black, and the front of the craft was painted
white? Since there is star-light coming from every-which direction, the black
paint at the rear of the craft would absorb more energy from Radiation Pressure
than the front, thereby accelerating the craft “forward.”
Instead of black paint, we could use PV panels to not only gain thrust
–because their ‘input’ side is black — but electrical energy for the craft as
well.
This is, of course, given that there is uniform light coming from every
direction. The craft should be as ‘light’ as possible; the lower the mass of
the craft and its cargo and personnel, the better, given that we’re working with
quite minute accelleration.
The good news is that this will work both inside and out of the solar system,
and there is no hard limit as to acceleration (gain) over time. Given an
infinite amount of time, and infinite amount of energy will be gained.
Naturally we don’t work in infinities (unless you’re Zeno, Leibnitz, or Newton).
The current system of acceleration are rockets in one form or another, and they
have a hard limit. Any increase in the amount of fuel will make it that much
more resilient to attaining thrust, so there is a sweet spot as to the amount of
fuel to carry. It cannot go any faster than this algebriac notion allows. NASA
is currently dealing with solar sails, which are similiar to my proposition, but
they won’t work (as well) outside the influence of the solar system — the sun
needs to be X distant for acceleration, so its efficacy is limited also.
I will patent this as soon as I can afford it, but consider this my “prior art”
announcement.
- Sven Gelbhaar