Y'know, it occurs to me that in order to derive the greatest efficiency of the velocity gained by the use of a solar sail, it would be best to pair it with a Ramjet.
The photons/laser defice against the sail would serve to propel the craft, while the ramjet would, in effect, serve to "pull" the craft.
Now, I don't think such a configuration would serve to double the potential veloctiy, but it would certainly begin to alleviate some of the deficiencies of each.
Slashdot Mirror
Or, Apple will license and/or buy the idea, and *then* Microsoft will steal it. Again.
Okay, I'm new here, but holy crap, these dupes are almost worse than spam!
/. anymore?
:-)
Seriously. Do the admins just not even read
Heh, guess they're just smarter than the rest of us then.
I also like the idea of patent meta-moderation.
:-)
Can I have some karma too?
Y'know, it occurs to me that in order to derive the greatest efficiency of the velocity gained by the use of a solar sail, it would be best to pair it with a Ramjet.
The photons/laser defice against the sail would serve to propel the craft, while the ramjet would, in effect, serve to "pull" the craft.
Now, I don't think such a configuration would serve to double the potential veloctiy, but it would certainly begin to alleviate some of the deficiencies of each.
What happens if you can only shed half your speed by the time you get to the planet?
Quite simply, you enter orbit.