Re: My Two Bits Ain't Worth 1E-15 (Take 2)

[T.L.G.vanderLinden@student.utwente.nl (Timothy van der Linden)]

>By the way, Kevin, I believe, was worried about the a redirecting mirror 
>gaining too much speed related to the Asimov during the redirecting of the 
>maser beam.  That problem can be handled by putting some sort of weight on 
>the mirror.

Yes, but then that weight has to be accelerated too during the starting
phase. So while gaining something on the one end, one looses something on
the other end.

>>>By the way, I found out last night that a Kevin's MARS idea seemed to be
>>>using another kind of sail to reflect microwaves.  If this statement is
>>>incorrect, please correct me.  I wander in the dark here.
>
>>I'm not sure, another kind than what?
>
>Sorry, another kind of reflection sail like a magsail or visible light sail.

A magsail does not really reflect anything (I think). To get energy it uses
the magnetic fields of the fast moving particles that fly by. That gained
energy can then be use again to make a opposite magnetic field, so that the
ship is pushed away. Of course that energy could also be used for another
kind of propulsion.

Maser and light sails do reflect Electro Magnetic radiation. The kind of EM
radiaton does not really matter, only some are easier to reflect than others.

>>You should keep in mind that
>>microwaves reflect on different surfaces that visible light does. It may
>>even be possible to use a mesh of metal. Roughly said if the mesh-holes are
>>smaller than the wave-length then it will reflect the waves. For 
>microwaves,
>>that means very small holes, but anyway, it may save some weight (CD's have
>>small puts too).
>
>What CD's are you referring?  Compact Disks?

Yes, but forget it, microwaves seem to have a larger wavelenght than I
thought (see the MARS letter to Kevin).

>>Could you explain to me what makes a rail launcher different from an 
>ion-gun?
>
>A rail launcher, to my knowledge, catapults solid, non-ionized masses.  An 
>ion gun launches ionized particles.  Actually, a rail gun is made of the 
>same magnets that an ion gun is (I think).  They could probably do the same 
>jobs so there may be no real difference.

Yes, non-ionized masses could only be accelerated by magnetic fields, I
think the accelerating charged particles has a much better efficiency.


Timothy