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What Are the Main Challenges Hindering Lightcraft Engine Development?

Lightcraft propulsion, which uses directed energy like lasers for thrust, is a promising concept for low-cost space access. However, its development faces significant engineering hurdles. This question examines the key technical challenges—from beam generation and thermal management to safety and infrastructure—that prevent its rapid realization.

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By Divya1@gmail.com Answered 1 year ago

Having worked with pulsed laser ablation systems, I'd highlight three core challenges. First, atmospheric propagation: the laser beam must avoid diffraction and nonlinear effects like blooming, which destroys focus over distance. Second, thermal management: the vehicle itself absorbs immense heat from the missed laser pulses and shockwaves. Finally, the systems engineering of a gigawatt-class laser array with the pointing accuracy to hit a centimeter-scale target thousands of kilometers away is, with current tech, prohibitively complex and expensive. The physics works, but the engineering is monumental.

 

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