"The electric solar wind sail developed by Dr. Pekka Janhunen at the Finnish Meteorological Institute might revolutionise travelling in deep space. The electric sail is a Finnish invention which uses the solar wind as its thrust source and therefore needs no fuel or propellant. The solar wind is a continuous plasma stream emanating from the Sun. Changes in the properties of the solar wind cause auroral brightening and magnetic storms, among other things." Read more
Yes, this is good, but how do you prevent damage to the sails, while traveling, seeing as how they are going to have to be massive.
the electric sail is not Finnish invention it was developed by Russian scientists long before they even conceived of using solar wind sail.
How do you get it to work when it gets to the outer planets where the solar winds and light are almost non existant?:shrug: How fast will this thing ever travel at for it seems that just having an electric charge won't be able to attain great speeds. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Cosmos1 was a light sail, using light pressure; this appears to use the solar wind which is much weaker except during a solar storm.
so what is this "solar wind" than? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_wind A stream of charged particles sent out by the active surface of the Sun. When the Sun has a particularly bad outburst, a Coronal Mass Ejection, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronal_Mass_Ejection the number of particles increases enormously. This would increase the thrust on any vessel using the solar wind accordingly. More details on solar wind sailing; http://www.electric-sailing.com/ However an electric sail could in theory be much lighter than a light-propelled sail.
No. It isn't. The third link I gave you states quite clearly that the average pressure from the solar wind is 5000 times less powerful than the light pressure. But an electric sail can consist of a loop of charged wire, while a light sail needs to be a sheet of flexible mirror fabric, so is heavier.
well fine...I guess the issue here is were did u get that Cosmos 1 uses only photon light pressure and not solar wind? ! cause Cosmos 1 uses solar wind Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Cosmos 1 would have used light pressure for propulsion, not the solar wind. Unfortunately the rocket failed on take-off. The difference between a light sail and an electric sail can be seen in these images; Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Cosmos 1 Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Electric sail The Electric sail is much lighter, but the pressure from the solar wind is much less.
