LET’S SAIL TO VENUS ON MY SPACE YACHT, BABY

[defrog]

Yr Awesome 21st Century lede of the day:

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has launched the first spacecraft that will speed across the solar system using a hybrid solar sail—one propelled partly by solar pressure, partly by traditional solar power. [...]

First proposed in the 1920s, solar sails are large reflective membranes that allow a spacecraft to be pushed by radiation pressure from sunlight, negating the need for heavy onboard fuel.

"It's the space equivalent of a yacht sailing on the sea," said Yuichi Tsuda, deputy project manager for Ikaros. Like wind filling a boat's sails, particles of light—or photons—streaming from the sun bounce onto a mirrorlike aluminized solar sail.

As each photon strikes, its momentum is transmitted to the spacecraft, which begins to gather speed in the almost frictionless environment of space. A solar sail can eventually reach speeds five to ten times greater than a rocket powered by conventional fuels.

The reality-check downside is that solar sail technology won’t really work for manned missions because of the extra weight, which would make the craft take too long to reach acceleration speed. However, it could really kick open the doors to robotic space exploration.

"On the 2020 mission, we hope to be able to go to the Jupiter system and the concentrated belt of asteroids that exist nearby that are known as the Trojan asteroid region," Tsuda said.

Close enough.

Come sail away,

This is dF

Comments

[drhoz.livejournal.com]

nearby??? I love that - they're as far from Jupiter as Jupiter is from the Sun! that's the DEFINITION of the Trojan point!