Saturday…..my start of a beautiful two days of mental nothingness…..AHHHHHH!

There has been lots of sciencey stuff in the past year……advancements in robotics and AI……faster than light travel in Europe, CERN to be exact…..and I am always looking for news and articles about space, the final frontier and our mission out there to the far reaches of the universe…..

As it is now, when we launch a rocket to the space station or such….we have to be aware of the fuel capacity and the levels or we may never get home or we could become a flaming star in the night sky…..while skooching around the net I fond an interesting article on the fuel controversy……

NASA boffins are looking into making a science-fiction staple – the idea of transmitting power to spacecraft using lasers or microwaves – into reality.

Sending enough energy to replace commonly-used present day space propulsion via laser beam would be quite a feat. One of the most powerful lasers in the world that’s capable of keeping a beam going for any length of time – Boeing’s Airborne Laser Test Bed – can put out only a few megawatts of juice, but (according to El Reg’s back-of-a-pint-coaster calculations) it takes about 190 gigawatts to power the first stage of a Saturn V rocket and 4.1GW to make a single Delta IV core rocket go.

The agency said in its statement:

This project will attempt to develop a low-cost, modular power beaming capability and explore multiple technologies to function as receiving elements of the beamed power.

This combination of technologies could be applied to space propulsion, performance and endurance of un-piloted aerial vehicles or ground-to-ground power beaming applications. Development of such capabilities fulfills NASA’s strategic goal of developing high-payoff technology and enabling missions otherwise unachievable with today’s technology.

This could be a major break through could eliminate the need for all that solid fuel or the concern on the level in the tank…..this could make space travel a whole lot easier and the search for our Klingnon brothers more realistic……