Re: starship-design: Tugs

[TLG.van.der.Linden@tip.nl (Timothy van der Linden)]

Kelly,

>>>>The strech is provided by the beam and sail themselves. If the beam hits
>>>>the sail under an angle, it will push the sail aside. Just like a parachute
>>>>will be blown open and not flap or wrinkle in the middle.
>>>>The only places that may wrinkle are the outsides.
>>>
>>>That would only work if the sail is anchored to something by cables.
>>> Otherwise its effectivly a sheet of paper blown in the wind (or a domed
>>>shaped peice of paper if you prefer.).
>>
>>I figured the sail always had to be anchored by cables...
>
>Anchored to what?  Unless the anchor weighs enough it can't 'anchor' the
>sail.  In the case of fuel/sail, the sail is 400 times heavier.

Anchored to the ship. The ship doesn't need to be heavier, it just should
want to accelerate less than the sail, which it does as soon as you cut the
cables.

>>True, but then the small sails should be able to accelerate faster than the
>>mothership. This is not necessary a problem, since they likely don't have as
>>much payload per sail-area.
>
>Not if they had the same cargo weight per sail area. 

?? Didn't I just say that...

Tim