Reducing solar sail escape times from Earth orbit using beamed energy

The time needed for solar sails to escape Earth orbit can be greatly reduced by using photon generators (“beamers” of microwaves or laser pulses). Once a ground-based or orbiting beamer imparts energy to a sail, it may take a relatively long time for the beamer and sail to resonate—i.e., the beamer and sail rendezvous after a certain number of orbital periods. For resonance to occur quickly, specific energies must be given to the sail at each boost. We simulate solar sail trajectories and estimate escape times under a variety of conditions using resonance methods, which can reduce escape times from Earth by over two orders of magnitude vs. using sunlight alone. If the sail is coated with a substance that sublimes under irradiation, much higher momentum transfers are possible. We derive physical scaling of beamer power and sublimed material temperature.