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Electric solar wind sail…

Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 5:10 pm
by Cody
A nice theory… it’ll be good if it works.

Testing

Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 7:05 pm
by DaddyHoggy
Very nice indeed - based on those speeds - how long before a probe launched (now), using this technology, would overtake the Voyager probes? I'm presuming the effect decreases with range so there's less impetus to the sails over time and eventually it'll stop accelerating?

Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 7:13 pm
by Cody
DaddyHoggy wrote:
based on those speeds - how long before a probe launched (now), using this technology, would overtake the Voyager probes?
Hang on, I’ll just get my slipstick… no, that calculation needs a serious mathematician.
I know one thing… it’d be travelling at one helluva rate of knots by the time it stopped accelerating.

Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 11:06 pm
by Cody
On the subject of Voyager and the solar wind...