The photon rocket and photon assistant rockets are not the same thing.

The photon rocket and photon assistant rockets are not the same thing. 

Usually, people think that a photon rocket has no thrust. That thing might be right in the cases of regular photon rockets, that use disturbing, non-coherent light for thrust. 

But it's possible. That photon rockets can have more abilities than we ever imagined. The next systems are not pure photon rockets. They are photon-assistant rockets and levitation machines. I will not handle WARP drive in this essay because that requires a separate essay. The fact is that photon rockets are hypothetical systems, as well as photon-assistant engines, are only hypothetical levels. 

The laser can drive energy to the back of the craft. But can this be enough for moving that thing? The laser acts like a heat pump. It moves energy out from the rocket's nose and then the outcoming energy tries to fill that energy loss. But can that effect move spacecraft? That's unknown. 

Electromagnetic wormhole. And its relationship with the speed of light. 

Electromagnetic wormholes are wave movement that travels in space. That wave movement is coherent. In some texts before I wrote that electromagnetic wormholes are not "real wormholes", but electromagnetic wormholes can make it possible to travel faster than the speed of light. Can this be possible? The key is this: can the system remove scattering from the wormhole? 

The reason for that is that if the electromagnetic wormhole is the tube or layer, that makes it possible for light can travel faster in that laser or radio beam. The speed of light is relative to its environment. If we would travel in laser ray. That is so tight that no energy can travel outside from it and that laser ray pushes us. 

Relative speed with that electromagnetic radiation is zero if that radiation pushes us through the universe and we would ride with that electromagnetic ray without any outside power source. But if we start antimatter engines in that wormhole or electromagnetic beam that makes it possible that the craft can travel faster than the speed of light, or light travels outside that electromagnetic wormhole. The engine pushes against the radiation that comes from the back. And that thing gives extremely high speed in that EM wormhole. 

1) The plasma-photon engine.

In some visions, the laser ray that is aimed up from the craft can pull the craft up from the ground. The idea is that the laser ray heats the air. And then that thing creates the low-pressure area above the craft. And that low pressure pulls craft over the ground.  

Sometimes this hypothetical system has the name "pyramid engine". The idea of this system is that the laser will aimed at the bottom of the hollow pyramid. Then the laser ray will heat the air in that pyramid. The laser rays will turn that gas into plasma. Then, the system can raise the craft to the orbiter.  The laser system can be in the craft. 

But it's easier to make that system if that high-power laser is on the ground. In some models, there is a small hole at the top of the "laser craft". The idea is that. The laser ray can travel through that hole, forming a bubble to the top of the craft. That low-pressure bubble will make the system elevate from the ground. 

2) Laser photon-ion thruster. 

Laser rays can travel through the medium in a rocket engine chamber. The system can vaporize any kind of material. And when laser ray vaporizes the material it raises its pressure. If that system ionizes the gas, the magnetic field can make it travel backward. 

And that kind of system can use any kind of propellant that the laser can vaporize. The laser ray can also kick those ions to extremely high speed. The ion engine that uses lasers as the propellant vaporization can be an effective tool for asteroid research.  

Image David A. Hardy

3) The laser-zero point thruster. 

The laser-based rocket engines that use radio waves as the focus can use zero-point propulsion. In zero-point rocket propulsion, the system creates a quantum vacuum in the thruster's nozzle. Then the system accelerates ions or electrons through that quantum bubble. The laser beams accelerate those electrons to a very high speed. The system would pull negative ions and beta electrons through the accelerator. 

Then the laser system or antimatter explosions will accelerate those particles by using photons. The system can use the nuclear reactor's electrons that it turns to positrons. Or it can use cathode rays that turn to positrons or anti-electrons. 

The image in this text can represent this kind of rocket. The rocket pulls ions inside it. And there the laser rays or some other high-power photon sources kick those particles to very high speed. In this system, the larger side of the rocket is the pulling channel. And then the thinner side is the nozzle where particles come out from that rocket. 

4) Forward-shooting photon rocket. 

This system can used with antimatter engines. The antimatter engines push the craft forward. Photon source like laser makes a hole in the quantum fields. Forward-shooting photon rockets would travel faster than the speed of light. The system shoots photons to the front of the craft. And those photons make holes in the space. 

The craft's laser system can create an electromagnetic wormhole to the front of it. And that allows the craft to travel faster than otherwise. That system can be a powerful tool in interstellar drives. 

5) Electromagnetic wormhole-based system. 

In this system, the powerful laser or radio maser that sends coherent electromagnetic radiation will make an electromagnetic wormhole around the craft. The craft travels in the electromagnetic wormhole. And then the antimatter or some other exotic power systems makes the craft travel faster than light travels outside the wormhole. 

The idea for that kind of system is this. The layer or tube where the craft travels moves with the speed of light. That means the relative speed between the craft and the wormhole is zero if that outside laser system pushes the craft forward. Then if the craft has an internal propulsion system it can cross the speed of light. The reason for that is this: the speed of light is higher in the electromagnetism wormholes. 

The electromagnetic wormhole closes the craft inside it. And because the speed inside the electromagnetic wormhole is relative to the electromagnetic wormhole not space outside it, that allows the craft to travel in that thing faster than usual.