Phys.org  February 8, 2022 Responding a NASA solicitation to send a sagecraft to Mars using laser, researchers in Canada are exploring laser-thermal propulsion. An Earth-based laser array of 10 m diameter and power 100 MW would be able to deliver laser power to spacecraft in cislunar space, where the incident laser is focused into a hydrogen heating chamber via an inflatable reflector. The hydrogen propellant is then exhausted through a nozzle to realize specific impulses of 3000 s. The architecture is shown to be immediately reusable via a burn-back maneuver to return the propulsion unit while still within range of […]