I thought about that, but that's only really going to start being an effect as you get way up there in terms of velocity.
The papers on the photonic laser thrusters have this line in them"The maximum photon thrust achieved so far in this set-up was 35μN at the laser output of 1.7 W" which seems to be the same kind of realm as the proposed thruster implying relativistic speeds wouldn't be needed.
As I said, it'd probably need actual maths with numbers to prove it can't work ;->
On 2014-08-08 1:30 AM, Robert C Steinke wrote:
To add a little more detail, if you are receding from the light source the photons will be red-shifted and thus will have less momentum and produce less thrust on a solar sail.On Thu, 7 Aug 2014 10:32:08 -0400 Carlo Vaccari <airplaniac2002@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:A photon based propulsion system fails to generate free power because theforce is not invariant with relative speed.On 07/08/14 21:38, Keld Laursen wrote: I do still wonder where a photonic system fails and I'd really like to hear an explanation for why it would, though I fear the answer involves actual numbers not just abstract thought to work. ;->