

Blasting Off Today: A Satellite That Sails on Sunbeams - dnetesn
http://www.wired.com/2015/05/blasting-off-today-satellite-sails-sunbeams/?mbid=social_twitter

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ChuckMcM
Of course a long time ago people decided that 'blasting off' was inappropriate
for a rocket, it 'lifts off' since rocket + blasting usually means spontaneous
unplanned rapid disassembly :-)

It is too bad this first one has to stay in the upper atmosphere to be dragged
back down to earth. I get that a tiny cubesat is still really nasty orbital
junk when it is dead but the chance to show a solar sail actually working
would be nice.

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Already__Taken
What's the idea behind making the inside of the rocket fairing look like the
tardis[1]?

1:
[http://images6.fanpop.com/image/polls/1245000/1245291_137343...](http://images6.fanpop.com/image/polls/1245000/1245291_1373439785027_full.jpg)

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xgbi
Sound dampening. These aluminium holes are here to prevent the payload from
suffering from the sound pressure of the take off.

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abecedarius
If you'd like to try navigating one, I once made a crude little 2d solar-sail
simulator:
[http://hackers.cool/~darius/gravity.html](http://hackers.cool/~darius/gravity.html)

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grinich
this is really fun :)

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abecedarius
Thanks. :)

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whoopdedo
I read recently that Messenger saved fuel on its trip by using its
photovoltaic panel as a sail. So there has been a demonstrated use of solar
sails as propulsion, contrary to what the article says.

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iwwr
The Japanese IKAROS satellie has done extensive tests of solar sailing,
gaining about 400m/s from solar pressure over a few years. It also did a flyby
of Venus.

[https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-
missio...](https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-
missions/i/ikaros)

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IndianAstronaut
This is a huge step forward. It is hopefully going to commoditize space
research and exploration, especially up to the Jupiter system where enough
sunlight exists to power satellites.

