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accelerating an object in space with solar wind


markusariliu

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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.

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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.

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  • 1 month later...

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

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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?

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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.

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