Laser powered rocket engine using a gasdynamic window

摘要

Optics capture and concentrate laser radiation and send it through a gasdynamic window which is formed by supersonic expansion of unseeded hydrogen gas exiting a passageway directly under the opening. Seeded fuel is inserted into the chamber where it is heated by the laser radiation and the energy of the heated gas is converted into kinetic energy of a high velocity by means of a rocket nozzle.