Flare Sci-Fi Forums: Well, it ain't warp speed, but...

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Posted by Baloo (Member # 5) on :

I must've been distracted when this article came out. I don't remember reading it before. Have a look:

New spacecraft propulsion method could be out of this solar system

Well, it isn't fast by Star Trek standards, but it's 1/60th the speed of light.

--Baloo

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"Motto: you just can�t go wrong giving money to the poor in front of a priest."
-- James Lileks
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Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :

How are you supposed to get back? Tack into the solar wind?

Andrew

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"Who wouldn't be the one you love
Who wouldn't stand inside your love." - Stand Inside Your Love, The Smashing Pumpkins

Posted by Mikey T (Member # 144) on :

They expect up to paddle our way back...

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"Life's a bitch, then you die"
-USS Vanderbilt, Vanderbuilt Class starship

Posted by Baloo (Member # 5) on :

quote:
"Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down?
That's not my department," says Wernher von Braun.

(from "Wernher von Braun", by Professor Tom Lehrer.)

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"Motto: you just can�t go wrong giving money to the poor in front of a priest."
-- James Lileks
http://www.geocities.com/cyrano_jones.geo/

Posted by Epoch (Member # 136) on :

This propulsion system seems to be more suited to probes or items that we have no intention of getting back. Looks real promising.

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Death before Dishonor!
However Dishonor has
quite a disputed defintion.

Posted by Hobbes (Member # 138) on :

Like Pioneer 10 for example.

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"Tigers are mean! Tigers are fierce! Tigers have teeth and claws that pierce!"
Federation Starship Datalink - On that annoying Tripod server, sucks don't it?

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

I seem to recall that it is indeed possible to sail against the wind with a solar sail. All you need to do is position the sail in such a way as to decrease your orbital velocity, and "down" you go.

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"What did it mean to fly? A tremor in your soul. To resist the dull insistance of gravity."
--
Camper Van Beethoven

Posted by Mythril (Member # 286) on :

Engage!

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I am not responsible for the stupidity of other people.

Posted by Saiyanman Benjita (Member # 122) on :

Finally. Progress. Funny though, that the grants for these are still far less than what it takes to build a nuke submarine (less sophisticated) and a jet plane (far less sophisticated.)

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me and Artemus Clydefrog go save Selma Hayek from the big metal spider
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