Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40394191›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2025

Experimental demonstration of tractor millimeter wave beam propulsion.

Masayuki Takahashi, Toshiki Yamada, Ryutaro Minami, Tsuyoshi Kariya, Kohei Shimamura

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Masayuki TakahashiDepartment of Aerospace Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai, 980-8579, Japan. masayuki.takahashi.c8@tohoku.ac.jp.
Toshiki YamadaDepartment of Aerospace Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai, 980-8579, Japan.
Ryutaro MinamiPlasma Research Center, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, 305-8577, Japan.
Tsuyoshi KariyaPlasma Research Center, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, 305-8577, Japan.
Kohei ShimamuraDepartment of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Hino, 191-0065, Japan.

Funding

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science JP24K07879
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Tractor millimeter-wave beam propulsion (TMiP), which obtains a propulsive force by receiving a high-power tractor beam from the front side of the vehicle, was proposed for space missions such as rocket launches from Earth and planetary takeoff missions. A beam irradiation experiment with a gyrotron device was conducted for a model rocket with a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) lens to collect the tractor beam power, facilitating gas breakdown and plasma generation at the focal point. A high-pressure gas was formed via plasma heating, interacting with the PTFE lens mounted on the front of the vehicle and generating a propulsive force for rocket launching. A parametric study was conducted by changing the pulse width, which showed that the maximum thrust performance was achieved when the plasma front propagating toward the beam source did not protrude from the air-breathing intake at the front of the vehicle. Additionally, computational simulations for electromagnetic wave propagation and compressible fluid dynamics indicated that the thrust performance could be improved by decreasing the rocket diameter due to shock wave concentration.

Indexed as

Beamed energy propulsionMillimeter-wave beamPlasma

Identifiers

PMID40394191
PMCPMC12092669

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.