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RE: RE: RE: starship-design: Deceleration scheme
Kelly,
> Agreed. Thats only fast enough to get to the near by stars. Even then only
> once in a while. For real operations in interstellar space were going to
> need some much better tricks.
> Hey but .42 was pretty good! ;)
Well, we can slam a Starwisp up to .9c in about three weeks with a Maser
Sail. Perhaps we should start exploring now with Starwisps while we build
infrastructure for larger manned sails. We could at least settle everything
within about 10 light years if we could get up to .5c. We would be sending
out ships crewed with children to do it....of course there wouldn't be any
chance of coming back.
What was the best figure for top velocity we came up with for RAM and RAIR?
I've been thinking about the deceleration problem. Suppose we use a hybrid
sail, if the holes in the mesh are smaller than the wavelength of the
microwave beam it will reflect, and if it is smaller than the wavelength of
the laser (i.e. solid) it will reflect the laser and the maser. So let's
construct it in such a way that we have a thin film of material deposited
on a thicker mesh. It will strengthen the sail considerably and reflect both
microwave and laser radiation. This way we can use both solar light and/or
maser arrays to accelerate up to speed quicker. Deceleration would be
completely by light pressure from the target star which would require an
earlier turnover, but it would still be a faster mission without the need
for complicated two-stage mirrors, etc.
And if we get really desperate, we could still eat the sail when we're done.
<G>
Lee Parker
(o o)
------------------------------------------------------oOO--(_)--OOo---------
There is nothing so big or so crazy that one out of a million technological
societies may not feel itself driven to do, provided it is physically
possible.
Freeman Dyson, 1965