Laser cannon, the technology that could take us to Mars in 30 minutes or be a weapon to damage the Earth

Traveling is one of the activities that has most excited man. Now, let’s think about traveling through space, going from Earth to Mars in just 30 minutes. It is a possibility, and even more so with the technology of laser cannon.

This is a type of directed energy propulsion that can move ships at high speeds, but researchers also suggest that there is a great risk that could even endanger our planet.

Philip Lubin, a professor at the University of California, United States, is one of the researchers of the DE-STAR 4 technology (Directed Energy System for Targeting of Asteroids and exploRation). According to a report by El Confidencial, Lubin points out that with this technology a small spacecraft called a wafersat could reach Alpha Centauri (the nearest star system) in just 20 years.

But it would not only be useful for sending probes. The researcher indicates that “a DE-STAR 4 system can propel a ship to Mars in 30 minutes and would pass Voyager I in less than three days.” It works by projecting concentrated beams of light onto an ultralight sail. This beam of light generates enough thrust to accelerate the spacecraft.

But there is a significant risk. Adam Hibberd of the Institute for Interstellar Studies in London, the report says, has pointed out that such large-scale laser beams have war-like potential that could endanger the security of the planet.

The DE-STAR 4 system can generate beams of up to 70 gigawatts (GW). That’s enough energy to propel a ship or cause a catastrophe. They would have to be located more than 450,000 kilometers from our planet, that is, outside our orbit.

On the other hand, this technology is also being considered as a planetary defense system against possible meteorite impacts.