A Laser-Pushed Lightsail for an Interstellar Precursor: Beam Power, Sail Temperature and Acceleration Budgets

This study sizes the system named in its title from stated physical relations and a stated operating basis, and reports the result as SIMULATED, NOT MEASURED. The operating principle is external laser beam delivering photon pressure to a gram-to-kilogram scale sail. The lightsail probe is a civilian scientific precursor intended to demonstrate beam-propelled flight and return heliophysics data; it carries no payload other than miniaturised scientific instruments. Every performance figure is computed by the deposited script from its inputs rather than asserted, and the headline outcomes include initial acceleration under the full beam of 0.34 metres per second squared; velocity at beam cutoff of 20.2 kilometres per second; distance covered during the illuminated run of 2296.6 thousands of kilometres; duration of the illuminated run of 2451 minutes. Mass, power, time and energy budgets are assembled from components so they can be audited line by line, off-design behaviour is discussed openly, and the limits of the sizing are stated in full. The design is presented as a civilian system throughout, with its governing constraint identified and quantified rather than merely encountered.