RE: BOUNCE starship-design: Non-member submission from [Kevin C Houston <hous0042@garnet.tc.umn.edu>]

["L. Parker" <lparker@cacaphony.net>]

Kevin?

>Huh?  in zero gravity, even the slightest rotation will open up the sail.
>and since the acceleration imposed by the beam will be evenly distributed,
>the sail should not have to spin very fast.

Umm, you may be right. Since the sail fabric as a whole is designed to withstand a pressure capable of producing 0.05 G (or more if we can improve the design) then we only need to keep the initial rotational torque below this value.

Lee

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