Also called an electromagnetic cannon, a method of spacecraft propulsion that would use a linear motor to accelerate payloads up to high speeds. All existing and contemplated mass drivers use coils of wire energized by electricity to make electromagnets. Mass drivers can be used to propel spacecraft in two different ways: A large, ground-based mass driver can be used to launch spacecraft away from the Earth or another planet or moon, or a spacecraft could have a mass driver on board, ejecting large pieces of material into space to propel itself. A hybrid design is also possible. Prototype mass drivers have existed since 1975. Most were constructed by the Space Studies Institute in order to prove their properties and practicality.
Ground-based mass driver
Spacecraft-based mass driverA mass driver carried by a spacecraft and used as its primary engine. With a suitable source of electrical power (probably a nuclear reactor) the spaceship could use the mass driver to accelerate pieces of matter of almost any sort, boosting itself in the opposite direction. Since current linear motors can accelerate cargo to 30 km/s, an engine using one would have a specific impulse of about 3,000 s. However, no theoretical limit is known for the size, acceleration or muzzle energy of linear motors, so this can probably be improved signficantly. Efficiency is also quite good; linear motors can, with current technology, convert up to about 50% of the electrical energy into kinetic energy. Since a particle of mass m has momentum mv and kinetic energy mv2/2, the energy requirements vary inversely with the specific impulse, so in a design one must choose a tradeoff between energy consumption and consumption of reaction mass. Since a mass driver could use any type of mass for reaction mass to move the spacecraft, this, or some variation, seems ideal for deep-space vehicles that scavenge reaction mass from found resources.
Hybrid mass driverAnother variation is to have a mass-driver on a spacecraft, and use it to "reflect" masses from a stationary mass-driver. Each deceleration and acceleration of the mass contributes to the spacecraft's momentum. The spacecraft need not carry reaction mass, and doesn't even need much electricity, beyond the amount needed to replace losses in the electronics. The system could also be used to deliver pellets of fuel to the spacecraft for use in powering some other propulsion system. This could be considered a form of beam-powered propulsion. An extreme version of such a design is a space fountain, in which the "spacecraft" uses this drive to hover outside the atmosphere so it can serve as a launch platform.
Related category ADVANCED PROPULSION CONCEPTS
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