Body motion in artificial thermal channels

The possibility of reducing the losses of kinetic energy of small bodies that fly with high velocity in the atmosphere by creating a thermal channel along the flight trajectory owing to electromagnetic-energy supply from external sources is studied. The amount of energy necessary to change the ambient-medium parameters significantly is estimated, and an expression for the distribution of the temperature and density perturbations in the thermal wake of a system of crossed Gaussian laser beams, which form a region of heat release with an intensity one order of magnitude greater than the intensity of separate beams is derived. The spatial problem of the motion of a long solid body of revolution over a thermal channel is solved. The efficiency of the proposed method of decreasing the losses of kinetic energy along the trajectory is shown.