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#1 2005-02-01 20:01:39
- TwinBeam
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- From: Chandler, AZ
- Registered: 2004-01-14
- Posts: 144
Re: Super Sail to Mars - Boiling paint with microwaves
I didn't see this anywhere here yet:
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/spa … .500]Super Solar Sail
Sorry if I missed it. :-)
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#2 2005-02-01 21:18:09
- GCNRevenger
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- From: Earth
- Registered: 2003-10-14
- Posts: 6,056
Re: Super Sail to Mars - Boiling paint with microwaves
Problems with it:
-You need a giant super powerd microwave beam generator on Earth
-It only goes one way, away from Earth
-Crackpots are always fond of claiming "one month to Mars!" for their pet theory... one month to Mars with how much payload?
[i]"The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those that do not have it." - George Bernard Shaw[/i]
[i]The glass is at 50% of capacity[/i]
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#3 2005-02-01 21:32:31
- Timeslicer
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- From: Arizona
- Registered: 2004-06-19
- Posts: 27
Re: Super Sail to Mars - Boiling paint with microwaves
Sounds like a good way to launch a space probe of some kind - one way trip.
One oddity - they don't mention payload mass, but are very specific about the sail size and beam size and energy required.
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#4 2005-02-01 21:51:10
- BWhite
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- From: Chicago, Illinois
- Registered: 2004-06-16
- Posts: 2,635
Re: Super Sail to Mars - Boiling paint with microwaves
Problems with it:
-You need a giant super powerd microwave beam generator on Earth
-It only goes one way, away from Earth
-Crackpots are always fond of claiming "one month to Mars!" for their pet theory... one month to Mars with how much payload?
Orbit a nuclear reactor. Attach a microwave generator.
By the way, Landis and Benford are not usually deemed crackpots - - at least not the cold fusion flavor. 
= = =
One way? Who cares? Its a great way to deliver cargo.
Edited By BWhite on 1107316326
Give someone a sufficient [b][i]why[/i][/b] and they can endure just about any [b][i]how[/i][/b]
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#5 2005-02-01 22:02:17
- GCNRevenger
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- From: Earth
- Registered: 2003-10-14
- Posts: 6,056
Re: Super Sail to Mars - Boiling paint with microwaves
Orbit a reactor? A two hundred and fifty megawatt reactor? (assuming 33% thermal efficency and 66% microwave efficency.)
NASA is trying desperatly to launch a 300 kilowatt reactor.
Not including the payload mass makes their claim to "a month to mars!" meaningless, and supports my take that they are using the traditional crackpot mantra deceptively.
[i]"The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those that do not have it." - George Bernard Shaw[/i]
[i]The glass is at 50% of capacity[/i]
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#6 2005-02-01 22:03:55
- Euler
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- From: Corvallis, OR
- Registered: 2003-02-06
- Posts: 922
Re: Super Sail to Mars - Boiling paint with microwaves
It turns a solar sail into a sort of solar thermal rocket. It could be useful, but I wonder what sort of Isp range it is expected to have. If the Isp isn't high enough then the sail would not be worth using even if the microwave generator were free.
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#7 2005-02-01 22:05:28
- Euler
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- From: Corvallis, OR
- Registered: 2003-02-06
- Posts: 922
Re: Super Sail to Mars - Boiling paint with microwaves
Orbit a nuclear reactor. Attach a microwave generator.
Does it even have to be orbited?
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#8 2005-02-02 05:25:14
- SpaceNut
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- From: New Hampshire
- Registered: 2004-07-22
- Posts: 29,436
Re: Super Sail to Mars - Boiling paint with microwaves
I knew that I had seen this before and had commented on it. I thought I was going crazy until I looked under this thread Japan launches Solar Sail at last someone did it! and found what I had not only asked but had put forth on the subject though it was not much.
Does not the sun its self give off microwave rays as well as other wave lenghts.
Sounds like all that would be needed is a wave guide feedhorn arrangement to collect and direct them onto the target sail.
Grypd response can be found next in that thread.
But the long and short of it is that it is roughly an ION engine but with out all the high energy demand.
I one could make the suns energy after collecting and refocusing it onto this sail IMO this would be quite the way to go, at least one way to mars.
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#9 2020-06-20 19:38:04
- SpaceNut
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- From: New Hampshire
- Registered: 2004-07-22
- Posts: 29,436
Re: Super Sail to Mars - Boiling paint with microwaves
bump
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