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|  File Name      : AIRSPIKE.ASC     |  Online Date     :  05/22/95          |
|  Contributed by : Bruce Welsh      |  Dir Category    :  ENERGY            |
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From the May 22, 1995 Business Week.
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Energy Beams Could Really Cut your Commute

It looks more like a flying saucer than a sleek spaceship.  It will be powered
by silent microwave beams instead of roaring rockets.  And its airframe is
essentially a helium-filled dirigible.  Despite these unconventional features,
the aero-space craft being developed at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute isn't
mere science fiction.

Last Month, Rensselaer's "air spike" propulsion system passed a Mach 10 wind-
tunnel test with flying colors.  That's only half the speed needed to get into
space, but Leik N. Myrabo, the RPI associate professor of mechanical
engineering who heads the research team, is confident the principle is valid
for craft that could ferry tourists to the moon in six hours - or business
travelers from New York to Singapore in 45 minutes.

The air-spike system works by funneling microwave energy to a spikelike
antenna.  Its tip generates shock waves that blast away the air in front of
the saucer, creating lift to suck the airframe forward.  But the real action
comes when the shock waves collapse back around the rim of the saucer,
forceing hypersonic air into the intakes of a special jet engine.

No heavy fuel is carried because the jet burns electricity - beamed in as
microwaves from high-power transmitters on the ground OR IN SPACE.  If the
wind tunnel results at RPI attract more funding, says Myrabo, 21st century
travelers may literally ride on energy-beam highways in the sky.
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As Bruce points out, "How can this work in space with NO AIR?"....>>>  Jerry
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