Photon Space Drive1970-01-01T00:00:00+00:00A laser (red box mounted on grey support) firing photons (purple) at a space craft to accelerate it. The photons are reflected from the craft's giant reflector. As the photons bounce back, they transfer momentum to the space ship, which speeds up. Alth...PT21Shttps://d38zjy0x98992m.cloudfront.net/db90eda8-f6ae-46d6-a6e2-7ea1317b5c98/Photon_Drive_28_265_xlarge.jpghttps://d38zjy0x98992m.cloudfront.net/db90eda8-f6ae-46d6-a6e2-7ea1317b5c98/Photon_Drive_28_265_mp4_hd_video.mp4https://www.scientific.pictures/-/galleries/animations/-/medias/db90eda8-f6ae-46d6-a6e2-7ea1317b5c98/pricehttps://www.scientific.pictures/-/galleries/animations/-/medias/db90eda8-f6ae-46d6-a6e2-7ea1317b5c98/price
Photon Space Drive
A laser (red box mounted on grey support) firing photons (purple) at a space craft to accelerate it. The photons are reflected from the craft's giant reflector. As the photons bounce back, they transfer momentum to the space ship, which speeds up. Although photons are massless, they do carry energy at the speed of light and this gives them momentum. At the end of the animation, the laser beam has diverged enough that some photos miss the reflector.
Animation ID: Photon_Drive_265
Duration: 00:21
copyright Russell Kightley
Animation resolution: 1920x1080 pixels @ 60.0 fps, ~11.2 Mbits/s
Animation keywords: astronomy, astrophysics, electromagnetic acceleration, interstellar, laser, light, momentum, movie, photon, photon pressure, photonic, photonic propulsion, pressure, propulsion, radiation pressure, relativistic, rocket, technology, wave
Photon Space Drive2019-04-10T06:54:41ZA laser (red box mounted on grey support) firing photons (purple) at a space craft to accelerate it. The photons are reflected from the craft's giant reflector. As the photons bounce back, they transfer momentum to the space ship, which speeds up. Alth...PT21Shttps://d38zjy0x98992m.cloudfront.net/b6543931-e078-4282-ab96-251935d07286/Photon_Drive_265_xlarge.jpghttps://d38zjy0x98992m.cloudfront.net/b6543931-e078-4282-ab96-251935d07286/Photon_Drive_265_mp4_hd_video.mp4https://www.scientific.pictures/-/galleries/animations/-/medias/b6543931-e078-4282-ab96-251935d07286/pricehttps://www.scientific.pictures/-/galleries/animations/-/medias/b6543931-e078-4282-ab96-251935d07286/price
Photons hitting a corner cube reflector1970-01-01T00:00:00+00:00Animation showing a light source (LASER) firing red photons at a corner cube reflector. The photons are reflected in a way analogous to balls bouncing from a surface. The three reflective surfaces are at right angles to each other, and so they systema...PT20Shttps://d38zjy0x98992m.cloudfront.net/40fe507a-c462-4076-af54-936b98dffdbb/Photon_Corner_Cube_265_xlarge.jpghttps://d38zjy0x98992m.cloudfront.net/40fe507a-c462-4076-af54-936b98dffdbb/Photon_Corner_Cube_265_mp4_hd_video.mp4https://www.scientific.pictures/-/galleries/animations/-/medias/40fe507a-c462-4076-af54-936b98dffdbb/pricehttps://www.scientific.pictures/-/galleries/animations/-/medias/40fe507a-c462-4076-af54-936b98dffdbb/price