NASA Launches Solar Sail

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After years of kicking the idea around, NASA has finally launched its space kite thingy called the Nanosail-D.

Despite being an idea rattling around inside the head of engineers and space enthusiasts for over 40 years, solar sails have never really gained much traction in the way of actual deployment. Today, NASA has taken an important step towards testing solar sail technology for use in future spacecraft.
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El Barto said:
Sweet, just in time for Tron:legacy.
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Solar_sailer.jpg
 
I guess I thought they already had these deployed, I remember reading about it years ago.

Cool stuff, regardless.
 
stealthy123 said:
I guess I thought they already had these deployed, I remember reading about it years ago.

Cool stuff, regardless.
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Yeah, the Planetary Society, or one of those non-profit groups launched one for feasibility tests I thought.. *shrug*
 
lol.. I literally said out loud "about damn time" when I read this..

Been wanting someone to try it for years.. cool :D
 
Am I the only one who instantly thought of the captain from beginning of Star Trek IV?
 
Ben Sisko from DS9 from one of the earlier seasons was able to hit warp in one.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Yeah, the Planetary Society, or one of those non-profit groups launched one for feasibility tests I thought.. *shrug*
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from the article:

The Planetary Society is one of the most vocal and enthusiastic organizations in support of solar sail technology. They are currently developing a solar sail similar to that of Nanosail-D, called Lightsail-1. The society attempted a launch of a solar sail called Cosmos 1 in 2005, but the rocket carrying the satellite did not fire during its second stage, and the craft was lost.
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it never made it into orbit.
 
Normally, if you're already orbiting high above earth, does it take much fuel to go somewhere, say, to the moon or mars?
 
Parmenides said:
Normally, if you're already orbiting high above earth, does it take much fuel to go somewhere, say, to the moon or mars?
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I would say not because with zero gravity, all you need is thrust to get to your desire speed, and then turn off the rockets and save gas, except the emergency thrusters for steering around objects.

Did I get it right?

If so, I never understood those sci-fi movies where spaceships always have constant thrust flames coming out of their rears. Wouldn't it be a complete waste of fuel?
 
Yes, there is very little friction in open space. Meaning you generally dont slow down, so full thruster burn while moving around would just be increasing your speed or changing your direction.
 
Yeah, it would seem so. Just wondering if accelerating to speed and deceleration, and avoiding gravitational pull of celestial bodies factors out to much.

If NASA ever figures out how to recycle human waste, space exploration and colonization would take a whole new meaning.
 
isn't China shooting missiles in space to blow up dish satellites and creating more space junk?
 
Parmenides said:
Yeah, it would seem so. Just wondering if accelerating to speed and deceleration, and avoiding gravitational pull of celestial bodies factors out to much.

If NASA ever figures out how to recycle human waste, space exploration and colonization would take a whole new meaning.
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NASA should take lessons from the Fremen. ;-)
 
I was referring to the Indian captain in the beginning of Star Trek IV, whose ship gets disabled by the probe. He says we have deployed a makeshift solar sail in the hopes it will keep us alive...or something like that.
 
Japan already launched one earlier this year, around May I think. Pretty cool stuff! I can't wait to see what technologies come out of these experiments! Six months to get to Venus, using a SAIL. So cool!
Can you imagine the possibilities if we can harness all that free energy from the sun? The future looks bright!! :D
 
Parmenides said:
Normally, if you're already orbiting high above earth, does it take much fuel to go somewhere, say, to the moon or mars?
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Dirk13 said:
Yes, there is very little friction in open space. Meaning you generally dont slow down, so full thruster burn while moving around would just be increasing your speed or changing your direction.
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For "orbiting high above the Earth" this is only true for large values of "high" (as in up by the moon, possibly out in geosync, not true for where ISS and the space shuttle roam). The key to space travel (starting from Earth, anyway) is to ignore altitude and concentrate on velocity. To get to the ISS you need to accelerate to something like 16,000 mph*. To escape Earth's gravity (to go to the moon or Mars) you need about to get to 25,000 mph. Even worse, energy is velocity squared so it requires 2.4 times the energy needed reach that speed. Essentially, you get to build an entire rocket for your deep space probe as the payload of a rocket capable of going into orbit.

An old saw from two SF writers (I think RAH was one).
Orbit is halfway to the moon.
True, but orbit is halfway to anywhere.

The kicker here is if you can deploy solar sails or other continuous thrust engines, you can lift them as low as you dare (just enough that they can get out of the air friction that causes orbital decay) and let them slowly spin out into deep space.

Note that few people will care how long it takes a voyager-type craft to wander to Pluto. You might not want to spend several extra years going to Mars. On the other hand, this would be a great way to take a prefabbed base station, air, water, return fuel, etc. to the moon or Mars.

* wiki failed me and I am quoting actual orbital velocity (a very wrong way to do it). The numbers appear to work, but only because I am either lucky or forgetting my tiny knowledge of orbital mechanics.
 
I was thinking of making a harpoon with a solar sail attached to it for meteor defense. All they need is just alittle nudge far enough away to miss us, that is if we see them in time.
 
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