Laser-boosted light sail experiments with the 150-kW LHMEL II CO2 laser

Laser-boosted lightsail experiments were carried out on 4-8 December 2000 with the 150 kW LHMEL II carbon dioxide CW laser at Wright Patterson Air Force Base - in their 2.74 m long, 2.13-, diameter vacuum chamber. All 5-cm diameter sail specimens were fabricated by ESLI. The prior Dec. '99 pendulum tests used ultralight carbon microtruss discs, sputter-coated with molybdenum on the front face to improve reflectivity at 10.6 um - and are the first known measurements of high power laser photonic thrust with real candidate lightsail materials. The Dec. '00 vertical wire- guided tests employed an improved moly-coated carbon-foil material with the same basic microtruss substructure. The performance of this new carbon foil sail was superior to the earlier specimens.