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

my profile | directory login | search | faq | forum home

»	Flare Sci-Fi Forums » Community » Officers' Lounge » Well, it ain't warp speed, but...

Author

Topic: Well, it ain't warp speed, but...

Baloo
Curmudgeon-in-Chief
Member # 5

posted

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

------------------
"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/

Registered: Mar 1999 | IP: Logged

AndrewR
Resident Nut-cache
Member # 44

posted

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

Andrew

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

Registered: Mar 1999 | IP: Logged

Mikey T
Driven
Member # 144

posted

They expect up to paddle our way back...

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

Registered: May 1999 | IP: Logged

Baloo
Curmudgeon-in-Chief
Member # 5

posted

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.)

------------------
"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/

Registered: Mar 1999 | IP: Logged

Epoch
Geology Rocks
Member # 136

posted

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

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

Registered: May 1999 | IP: Logged

Hobbes
Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat
Member # 138

posted

Like Pioneer 10 for example.

------------------
"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?

Registered: May 1999 | IP: Logged

Sol System
two dollar pistol
Member # 30

posted

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.

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

Registered: Mar 1999 | IP: Logged

Mythril
Active Member
Member # 286

posted

Engage!

------------------
I am not responsible for the stupidity of other people.

Registered: Jan 2000 | IP: Logged

Saiyanman Benjita
...in 2012. This time, why not the worst?
Member # 122

posted

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.)

------------------
Well I'm a Bada$$ cowboy living in a cowboy day wicky-wicky-wak yo yo bang bang
me and Artemus Clydefrog go save Selma Hayek from the big metal spider
Wicky-wicky-wak wicky-wicky-wicky-wak
Bada$$ cowboy from the West Si-yiide

Registered: Apr 1999 | IP: Logged

Printer-friendly view of this topic