Is it posable to use some type of sail, as so many science fiction books have invisioned, to propell an object through space away from a star?

 

It seems possable since our atmosphere is blown egg-shaped by it, but I am not sure so I came to ask.

Is it posable to use some type of sail, as so many science fiction books have invisioned, to propell an object through space away from a star?

 

It seems possable since our atmosphere is blown egg-shaped by it, but I am not sure so I came to ask.

 

I am not sure but I think if we did not have a magnetic field solar winds will eventually destroy or remove our atmosphere. I think its the same reason we get auroras, in that the magnetic lines in the field conduct particles, I don’t know if they have anything in common with the van allen belts, if I spelled that right. So it would seem that like you stated the solar winds have some composition that can interact and so on, though I don’t know if you would want to spend a great deal of time in them.

Yes, it is possible, but it uses the force of the photons from the sun, not the solar wind (though that may help, I don't know).

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_sail for a quick starter on the topic.

isnt that what is comonly called the solar wind?

the solar wind is ions and other particles blown away by the sun. it does not usually refer to the light emitted by the sun.

thanks again I read the article and realise my mistake.

nasa has done a study on the use of an artificial magnetoshpere as a solar sail, they found it had merit but i haven't heard much else

nasa has done a study on the use of an artificial magnetoshpere as a solar sail, they found it had merit but i haven't heard much else

 

IIRC it would require either a nuclear reactor or an even bigger solar sail of solar power cells.

quite a few satellites had nuclear reactors, they normally used a simmering plutonium core and the seebeck effect, a chunky thermopile.

to create a big enough magnetic feild doesn't require much power, i seem to recall it being around 50W, much less than communication satellites

quite a few satellites had nuclear reactors, they normally used a simmering plutonium core and the seebeck effect, a chunky thermopile.

 

radiothermal generators(RTG's) are not nuclear reactors. nuclear reactors work with fission RTG's rely on radioactive decay.

 

any sources for the 50W for a decent sized solar sail?

radiothermal generators(RTG's) are not nuclear reactors. nuclear reactors work with fission RTG's rely on radioactive decay.

 

any sources for the 50W for a decent sized solar sail?

 

I think 50W was for generating a magnetic field, but then your thrust should be related to the power that you generate. One attraction of the solar sail is that the energy comes from the sun.