To: RightWhale; Brett66; xrp; gdc314; anymouse; RadioAstronomer; NonZeroSum; jimkress; discostu; ...
2 posted on
05/16/2005 5:57:15 PM PDT by
KevinDavis
(Let the meek inherit the Earth, the rest of us will explore the stars!)
To: KevinDavis
Robert L. Forward would have been proud.
3 posted on
05/16/2005 6:03:34 PM PDT by
WestVirginiaRebel
(Carnac: A siren, a baby and a liberal. Answer: Name three things that whine.)
To: KevinDavis
I wonder if you can sail upwind like a sailboat ;)
4 posted on
05/16/2005 6:04:39 PM PDT by
ProudVet77
(Warning: Frequent sarcastic posts)
To: KevinDavis
the Planetary Society, a non-profit U.S. group dedicated to promoting space exploration, hopes to launch its first solar sail from a Russian submarine in the next few weeks. Wonder why this makes me slightly uncomfortable...?
5 posted on
05/16/2005 6:20:04 PM PDT by
TXnMA
(ATTN, ACLU & NAACP: There's no constitutionally protected right to NOT be offended -- Shove It!)
To: KevinDavis
[...the Planetary Society, a non-profit U.S. group dedicated to promoting space exploration, hopes to launch its first solar sail from a Russian submarine in the next few weeks.]
On it's way to.....Neptune?
7 posted on
05/16/2005 6:26:14 PM PDT by
spinestein
(Newsweek lied, people died.)
To: KevinDavis
[Solar sail propulsion uses energy from the sun in the same way that a sailing boat is powered by the wind.]
There may be a similarity, but it's hardly "the same way"
9 posted on
05/16/2005 6:28:04 PM PDT by
spinestein
(Newsweek lied, people died.)
To: KevinDavis
Okay, great - it unfolded, in gravity, in a vacuum chamber. Wonderful.
This thing is 400 sq.m. and tares 23kg? That's about 66' square and 50 lbs. Doesn't seem very light to me. The article talks about spans of 80-160 m. (6400-25600 sq.m.) "depending on [sic] the mass of the craft" (OB-viously).
Has anybody seen anything anywhere concerning the pressure of raw sunlight at 1 AU? Can't be much. No matter what the velocity boost from a rocket, the acceleration can't amount to a lot.
14 posted on
05/16/2005 6:52:52 PM PDT by
solitas
(So what if I support a platform that has fewer flaws than yours? 'Mystic' dual 500 G4's, OSX.3.7)
To: KevinDavis
I much prefer the m2ps (mini-magnetosphere plasma propulsion, which is studied by a Dr. Winglee. It uses plasma to make a huge "virtual solar sail". Charged particles from the solar wind push against it. A tiny helicon can make a "sail" 15km in diameter.
18 posted on
05/16/2005 7:14:57 PM PDT by
Ahban
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