Japanese ISAS sent "Solar sail" up in space.

www.isas.jaxa.jp...

Good its about time, but i'm hoping they would of done 1 thing that I would have and thats mount a couple highres cameras on it.

I hope these things work because it's said that they could go 1/10 the speed of light. Which is really really fast.

1/10th the speed of light would take about 1,000 years of acceleration

So no, we won't be able to fly to mars in 57 minutes

But pluto could be done in 5 years.

[edit on 10-8-2004 by DetectivePerez]

Originally posted by DetectivePerez
1/10th the speed of light would take about 1,000 years of acceleration

So no, we won't be able to fly to mars in 57 minutes

But pluto could be done in 5 years.

[edit on 10-8-2004 by DetectivePerez]

yeah, i know that there not exactly "0-60 in 3 seconds flat" but there probably are only chance of being able to reach another star system, and I dont mean with humans on it. Have like that thing we left on the moon kinda or the thing on the voyager probe that says where we live, who we are, and details about us. Of couse they only include the good things. Ex: No Nukes and wars and starving people. Just National monuments and smiling people, and rainbows.

Somebody have site that explain how works sail????

AND

Can Solar wind harm human?

If yes, then:

How we can protect owerselfs from it?


[edit on 10-8-2004 by pushkin]

Originally posted by pushkin
Somebody have site that explain how works sail????

Hope this helps! science.howstuffworks.com...

Can Solar wind harm human?
How we can protect owerselfs from it?

Yes, it can. I would imagine a form a shielding similar to that used on the Apollo missions would work even on longer missions.

Yes, it can. I would imagine a form a shielding similar to that used on the Apollo missions would work even on longer missions.

What did Apollo mission used?:puzif you know or anybody knows)

[edit on 10-8-2004 by pushkin]

Hmmm, I wonder why the japanese are testing film when another group, The Planetary Society is getting ready to launch a solar sail spacecraft that has 8 solar sails as long as 47 ft across.
www.planetary.org...

For those folks still here on Earth (ie not astronauts), I wouldn't worry about the solar wind, the earth's atmosphere and magnetic field protect us from most things that come from the sun. The solar wind is like a gentle breeze of tiny particles constantly emitted from the sun. It's a possible source of steady propulsion without bringing the fuel onboard a spacecraft which is very important to get spacecraft moving at extremely high speeds. Just imagine going 1/10 of 186,000 miles a second. At this speed I bet the spacecraft will experience some time dilation if it doesn't crash and burn first.

If you are an astronaut travelling to Mars, then you could become toast if the sun decides to flare up and you don't have sufficient shielding in your spacecraft. A steady wind might be ok but those solar storms can be deadly. Doesn't space travel sound a bit like traveling the ocean?

[edit on 10-8-2004 by orionthehunter]

Originally posted by pushkin
What did Apollo mission used?:puz

if you know or anybody knows)
[edit on 10-8-2004 by pushkin]

don't take my word on this, but i want to say aluminium with a thin coating of lead. that doesn't sound right though, so it probably isn't.

If you still don't understand how solar sails work from the other links I found one that breaks that all down to simplicity.

How Solar Sails work

You know what might be work, is attach a giant solar sail on an asteroid in hopes of it being enough to change it's trajectory, this could one day possibly save the Earth when the next doomsday asteroid heads towards us.

A solar sail works by catching the sunlight in it's canopy and they are suppose to be giant to maximize the area being hit with photons. The force isnt very great, but it is constant so it causes the thing to constantly accelerate.
Links that describe it:
www.ugcs.caltech.edu...
www.planetary.org...
solarsails.jpl.nasa.gov...

Nasa just launched one too.
Solar Sail Launch