Bill Nye Is Testing a Spaceship That Rides on Sunbeams

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
Joined
May 9, 2000
Messages
75,399
Bill Nye, yes that Bill Nye, the Science Guy, is picking up the LightSail Project baton from the late Carl Sagan, who proposed the theory of a light sail to power an interplanetary or interstellar space flight. The project is now headed by Bill Nye and is about to conduct its first real world test in the upper atmosphere.
 
NASA cancelled its own test last year. Nye hosted StarTalk a couple of weeks ago and talked about it. The cubesat used to deploy it is pretty cool: http://sail.planetary.org/

Even a huge solar sail would take a few centuries reach the next star.
 
So the Mr Wizard want-to-be is taking time off from flying around on personal jets and berating everyone else for what he believes to be a cause of the theory of global warming to promote an idea everyone already knows works?

Light sails are so 1990's ... Magnetic Sails are the future.
 
Taldren said:
So the Mr Wizard want-to-be is taking time off from flying around on personal jets and berating everyone else for what he believes to be a cause of the theory of global warming to promote an idea everyone already knows works?

Light sails are so 1990's ... Magnetic Sails are the future.
Click to expand...
I dont even know where to begin so ill just say...

WUT?
 
Taldren said:
So the Mr Wizard want-to-be is taking time off from flying around on personal jets
Click to expand...
He's a mechanical engineer from an aerospace background, but that doesn't have much to do with him heading the Planetary Society which is running this project. BTW, he has repeatedly acknowledged the problem with his frequent flying and global warming. ;) I didn't care for him as a kid and think he's annoying, but the crazy right wing rage aimed at him is just bizarre.
 
Looks good so far, can't wait to see the working prototype in space.
 
pxc said:
He's a mechanical engineer from an aerospace background, but that doesn't have much to do with him heading the Planetary Society which is running this project. BTW, he has repeatedly acknowledged the problem with his frequent flying and global warming. ;) I didn't care for him as a kid and think he's annoying, but the crazy right wing rage aimed at him is just bizarre.
Click to expand...

The guy is nothing but a windbag. He has a BS degree in mechanical engineering. I am as much a scientist as that moron. All the left wing academics in the world, and THIS is the "science guy?" He is no more credible than any paid spokesman.
 
docmal said:
The guy is nothing but a windbag. He has a BS degree in mechanical engineering. I am as much a scientist as that moron. All the left wing academics in the world, and THIS is the "science guy?" He is no more credible than any paid spokesman.
Click to expand...

So....engineers don't have an in depth knowledge of science?

Oh, and he never proclaims to be a scientist.
 
Let's face it. It would be boring to not talk about Nye, as docmal wouldn't really get to connect the spacecraft in question to domestic issues if otherwise.
 
Taldren said:
So the Mr Wizard want-to-be is taking time off from flying around on personal jets and berating everyone else for what he believes to be a cause of the theory of global warming to promote an idea everyone already knows works?

Light sails are so 1990's ... Magnetic Sails are the future.
Click to expand...
What have you accomplished in your life besides opening your mouth berating others? I certainly hope it's not the kidlets you might have brought into being. When I see people like you who do nothing but use your mouth to do the thinking, I just shake my head. The US was not built and came upon its success from people like you.
 
Regarding Nye (and I've met the guy), there is some sentiment out pertaining to his social media efforts. IMO, any kind of additional attention on STEM in the states needs to happen.

I'm part of ASCE, and even when I graduated, it was discussed over and over the need to grow in-country talent. I think with that said, you can really credit his efforts to bring additional focus and excitement to STEM. Ultimately, we need to have a better culture for that in the states.
 
Man I remember hearing about the Planetary Society wanting to get a light sail test for a while, took them long enough. 32 square meters though? That would only be something like 3 ten-thousandths of a Newton of force acting on the sail, hope they have some much accurate sensors to measure that kind of acceleration.
 
snowcrash said:
What have you accomplished in your life besides opening your mouth berating others? I certainly hope it's not the kidlets you might have brought into being. When I see people like you who do nothing but use your mouth to do the thinking, I just shake my head. The US was not built and came upon its success from people like you.
Click to expand...

Some people won't believe that we have climate issues until we get rid of the Leftist Kenyan-born Socialist Illegal Muslim Black Panther Liberal Obama from office or until Bill O'Reilly says it's true.

.. Did I miss any?
 
docmal said:
The guy is nothing but a windbag. He has a BS degree in mechanical engineering. I am as much a scientist as that moron. All the left wing academics in the world, and THIS is the "science guy?" He is no more credible than any paid spokesman.
Click to expand...

What do you mean left wing academics? That implies that there are right wing academics and we all know thats just not true. ;)
 
pxc said:
NASA cancelled its own test last year. Nye hosted StarTalk a couple of weeks ago and talked about it. The cubesat used to deploy it is pretty cool: http://sail.planetary.org/

Even a huge solar sail would take a few centuries reach the next star.
Click to expand...

Not ideal for interstellar travel but excellent for solar system traversing. Its sad that NASA is forced to can so many great projects like this. Still can't believe we give them such a pitiful allowance. The ESA can't really even compete with that tiny allowance because they get even less and Russia simply couldn't give a fuck unless its for military application.

I really wish China would announce that they plan to install a military base on Mars. We fund NASA to be there within 10-15 years flat.
 
pxc said:
Even a huge solar sail would take a few centuries reach the next star.
Click to expand...

sfsuphysics said:
Man I remember hearing about the Planetary Society wanting to get a light sail test for a while, took them long enough. 32 square meters though? That would only be something like 3 ten-thousandths of a Newton of force acting on the sail, hope they have some much accurate sensors to measure that kind of acceleration.
Click to expand...

These small sails could be used for station keeping to greatly extend the lifespan of satellites. Most of our spacecraft run out of propellant long before the spacecraft itself begins to fail. This is particularly important for major investments like Mars orbiters.
 
It's smaller than i thought. I read somewhere that a space ship would need a sail the size of the moon, i'd have expected this to be atleast the size of a football field for that shoebox.
 
Engineers can't be scientists now? That's news to me. A ME degree with aerospace has nothing to do with spacecraft? I am honestly curious what people think is acceptable to be considered a "scientist" or have related knowledge to this project. Hell as a ME with an Aerospace background of would of expected him to have at least a decent understanding in Physics and Materials Science. That seems pretty applicable.

I always took Bill as trying to have an unbiased, objective take on topics. He's takes on topics with a lot of criticism, probably why he's scrutinized so much, but from what I've seen he details exactly why he thinks the way he does and I've seen him open to debates AND change his mind if more details become available.
 
Sly said:
It's smaller than i thought. I read somewhere that a space ship would need a sail the size of the moon, i'd have expected this to be atleast the size of a football field for that shoebox.
Click to expand...

Nope, you don't need ridiculously sized sails to send spacecraft around the solar system. The Japanese space agency used a 20m sail on IKAROS for it's Venus flyby. An 800m sail (weighing 5g per m^2) could pull 5 tons to Mars in 500 days. If we can master these things we'll be able to go anywhere in the solar system without having to carry fuel.

As Johannes Kepler put it back in 1610:
Provide ships or sails adapted to the heavenly breezes, and there will be some who will brave even that void.
Click to expand...
 
docmal said:
The guy is nothing but a windbag. He has a BS degree in mechanical engineering. I am as much a scientist as that moron. All the left wing academics in the world, and THIS is the "science guy?" He is no more credible than any paid spokesman.
Click to expand...

Exactly! I have degrees in Computer, Aerospace, and Mechanical engineering ... he isn't a "Science Guy" any more than I am.

Anyone that says "The debate is over" doesn't understand science or the scientific method.
 
DeathFromBelow said:
These small sails could be used for station keeping to greatly extend the lifespan of satellites. Most of our spacecraft run out of propellant long before the spacecraft itself begins to fail. This is particularly important for major investments like Mars orbiters.
Click to expand...
Forget the sales, use those engines that give propulsion without needing to use any physical fuel (see thread a week or two ago :D)
 
I think NASA is more preoccupied with warp drive...Just a little faster than this. And Nye is pretty much just a "TV Personality"...to even use his name in the same sentence as Carl Sagan is sacrilege. And yes, his entire career is based pretty much on "inference" of him being a "scientist"...and this technology was being discussed 40 years ago.here's a quote from the NASA website......"in the 1970s, Dr. Louis Friedman, then at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, led a project to try the first solar sail flight." So perhaps he just wants to be back in the public eye?
 
Dayaks said:
Engineers can't be scientists now? That's news to me. A ME degree with aerospace has nothing to do with spacecraft? I am honestly curious what people think is acceptable to be considered a "scientist" or have related knowledge to this project. Hell as a ME with an Aerospace background of would of expected him to have at least a decent understanding in Physics and Materials Science. That seems pretty applicable.

I always took Bill as trying to have an unbiased, objective take on topics. He's takes on topics with a lot of criticism, probably why he's scrutinized so much, but from what I've seen he details exactly why he thinks the way he does and I've seen him open to debates AND change his mind if more details become available.
Click to expand...

Its all about fitting their personal views. The same ones trying to discredit him being a scientist would be telling everyone how he is the greatest scientist ever is he didnt support the views he currently does...

This is the country we live in now. you dont like what the professionals have to say because it dont fit your narrative you simply try and discredit them because you cant actually disagree with them on any sane level.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top