Flare Sci-Fi Forums: An interesting variation on the solar sail...

This is topic An interesting variation on the solar sail... in forum Starships & Technology at Flare Sci-Fi Forums.

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Posted by Baloo (Member # 5) on :

I present [fanfare, please!] the solar BALOON?!?

No kidding. Go look and comment.

--Baloo

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The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live.
--George Carlin
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Posted by Davok (Member # 143) on :

Odd. Very odd idea. And I'm not sure �f it works at all.

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"Take it from me: it's a lot more fun asking questions than answering them." (Garak)

USS Allegiance NCC-74813
http://davok.cjb.net

Posted by JEM on :

Yep, very weird. I can't see this working at all. What's connecting the ship to the 'magnetic cloud' which I'm sure would rapidly disperse anyhow.

Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :

The same thing that connects Earth to IT'S magnetic field.

I think this had promise. Who clicked on the link to the paper on it?

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"We shall not yield to you, nor to any man." -- Freak, The Mighty.

Posted by The First One (Member # 35) on :

quote:
NASA has recently funded the building of a prototype, which should be completed by 2001.

Can you say 'Proxmire?'

Posted by Gaseous Anomaly (Member # 114) on :

Lee: Uhh?

I wonder what episode of a certain science-fiction show Winglee watched the night before.

Seriously though, I'd love to see this get as far as a prototype stage. But how in the hell are they going to create a magnetic field of this size? They would have to be some seriously chaged-up atoms to generate a field of this size.

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"So, no room for Bender, huh? Well I'll build my own lunar lander, with blackjack, and hookers.
In fact, who needs a lander, or blackjack?
Ah, screw the whole lot o' ya!"
-- Bender, Futurama.

Posted by Kosh (Member # 167) on :

There must be some way to do it, easy enough to get money from NASA to build a prototype. I thought Baloo had found a funny till I read the paper. Hope it works!!

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Outside of a dog, a book is a mans best friend. Inside of a dog, it's to dark to read. Groucho Marx