Electric forcefield space sailing-ship tech gets EU funding Finnish space boffins have been awarded €1.7m and placed in charge on an international effort to build the fastest thing ever made by the human race – namely a spacecraft propelled by the pressure of sunlight striking an enormous electrical field. The "electric solar wind sail" is not your common or garden solar sail, familiar …
We still have warm air balloons for the pleasure of some, not that good at tacking either.
For exploring the universe I cannot see one direction being more interesting or uninteresting than any other direction.
So let the wind blow, put a Google camera on board, add some adverts, and let us and our children enjoy a (dull) "reality" show.
... there could be an extendable frame. Each micro wire could be tethered to the frame edge and to a central hub. Instead of spinning the wires, the electric field could be applied sequentially to each wire from the central hub. The repetition rate would provide some means of throttling and would also provide a measure of control to account for energy bursts from the star or other sources. Possibly, with a little thought to the topology, a number of extendable hubs could be used, providing the possibility of multiple axis steerage.
Finally, by making the frame (s) extendable also implies retractability; necessary to perform, say, an arrow braking manoeuvre (i.e. using a planets outer atmosphere to create 'drag' and hence decelerate...) or to minimise gravitational force induced distortion to the frame (s) during gravity sling-shot assist manoeuvres.
Just a thought...
Solar sails primarily receive thrust from photons, which have no charge (life would get pretty interesting if photons did have charge and could then be bent around paths by magnets and electric fields).
Not sure what the balance is (charged particles c 1/3 to 1/5 light speed I think) but obviously *much* heavier.
A clever idea. BTW depending on the size of the wires during the trip and weather they are reeled out or reeled in they can also act as antenna or power receivers for beamed energy.
It looks like a system whose power source could be a better fit to the thrust of the system.
Good luck with the research programme.
Scooping up some hydrogen to fire the fusion drives for the trip back. Steering and braking would be kind of handy to have as well. Be sure to pack an extra helping of deuterium in your lunchbox.
That just leaves the minor detail of creating those fusion drives...
And the news that once near the edge of the heliosphere the solar wind appears to be moving sideways would mean a damn good helmsman on the wheel to keep it going straight.
Time to fold the sail and only re rig once punched through?
Impressed by the Voyager 1 travels though, galloping on at a reasonable 17km/s.
It'll be a tangled mess either at the get-go, or shortly thereafter.
The Italians couldn't even get a simple tether to work without getting all tangling up.
The key false assumption in all these cables-in-space fiascos is the assumption that cables and wires and such can be controlled in the vacuum of space. As was discovered in the pre-Buzz Aldrin spacewalks, the lack of damping and fixed reference points makes controlling masses in space very difficult. Any tiny force results in motion and motion results in a tangled mess.
Mark my words! (Oh, they already are marked.)
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
