Solar Sails Testing

[I'm Murrin]

I'm not going to repost all of the topics I made (just go to www.newscientist.com ), but a couple of good ones.

Linky

Could solar sails be the future of spaceflight? These sails gain momentum by reflecting radiation from the sun - over time they build up ever more speed, allowing them to reach distant targets in much shorter times.

[Loredoctor]

Yeah but it's not just the cheap nature of them or the fact no fuel is needed, what is important is how fast they accelerate.

[Nav]

Well, I'd expect the early stages of acceleration to be carried out by some variety of rocket motor. Once the first acceleration phase was complete, empty fuel tanks could be jettisoned and the solar sails deployed. The craft would still need something to slow it down at the other end, so they may as well use the same motors to get underway.

Does anyone else think that the sails in the article look like the back end of a Vorlon ship from Babylon 5?

[Avatar]

Wasn't there an Arthur C Clarke novella on this subject? "The Wind from the Sun" or something?

Can't remember the title, but it was about a "regatta" in space.

Pretty good as far as I remember.

--Avatar