Fukunari Masafumi, Arnault Anthony, Yamaguchi Toshikazu, Komurasaki Kimiya
Appl Opt. 2014 Nov 1;53(31):I16-22. doi: 10.1364/AO.53.000I16.
Microwave Rocket is a beamed energy propulsion system that is expected to reach space at drastically lower cost. This cost reduction is estimated by replacing the first-stage engine and solid rocket boosters of the Japanese H-IIB rocket with Microwave Rocket, using a recently developed thrust model in which thrust is generated through repetitively pulsed microwave detonation with a reed-valve air-breathing system. Results show that Microwave Rocket trajectory, in terms of velocity versus altitude, can be designed similarly to the current H-IIB first stage trajectory. Moreover, the payload ratio can be increased by 450%, resulting in launch-cost reduction of 74%.
微波火箭是一种束能推进系统，有望以大幅降低的成本进入太空。这种成本降低是通过用微波火箭取代日本H-IIB火箭的一级发动机和固体火箭助推器来估计的，采用了最近开发的推力模型，在该模型中，推力通过带有簧片阀吸气系统的重复脉冲微波爆轰产生。结果表明，微波火箭的速度与高度的轨迹可以设计得与当前H-IIB一级轨迹相似。此外，有效载荷比可提高450%，从而使发射成本降低74%。
