Russian boomer to launch solarsail powered spacecraft

[Gunslinger]

Originally posted by AKIron
Actually it will slow down, space dust, gravity and all. May be by  an insignificantly small amount though. I was just wondering if this presented real potential for interstellar travel.

Iron I was watching a show about this tech on the science channel and it was really interesting.

Using a sail scientists predict that they can actually reach 1/10th the speed of light.  The interesting part is the fact that it would build up over time.  It would gradually gain speed over the course of a year in order to reach that fast.

[Nilsen]

Also remember that the further away from the sun you get, the less energy you get for acceleration. With the time it would take to get the craft up to just under the speed of light you would prolly be to far away to get the energy needed.

[Chairboy]

For all you guys skepticak because it's being launched from a submarine, Russia first launched satellites into orbit from a submarine in 1998, so that's no news.  Maybe they use missiles that are nearing their end of life, and this is a way to make money off of them?

I think it's a shame that both sides had to burn off their decommissioned ICBMs, they could have been used for science.

[Estel]

Originally posted by john9001
i'm amazed the russians still have subs that work.

And also we are producing new types. With improved counter-noise systems. Such as Gepard for example. Nevermind it's a news for you.

[Estel]

Originally posted by Chairboy
For all you guys skepticak because it's being launched from a submarine, Russia first launched satellites into orbit from a submarine in 1998, so that's no news.  Maybe they use missiles that are nearing their end of life, and this is a way to make money off of them?

I think it's a shame that both sides had to burn off their decommissioned ICBMs, they could have been used for science.

Yes. You are mostly right. This is the best way to remove the old one missile from service. Due to a little problem (we don't plan to make a massive missile strike onto our enemies this month ) we need to use another ways to withdraw missiles with the maximum usefull payload. For your second part. Most part of scientific technology is very fragile and isn't able to start with this type of missiles.

[Chairboy]

Since launchers are usually the most expensive part of any science launch, it would be worth MAKING their instruments strong enough to survive an ex-ICBM launch.

Orbital Sciences (the company that makes the Pegasus launcher among other things) has demonstrated a launcher called the Minotaur.  It's the first stage of an ICBM with the second stage of a Pegasus.  Pretty innovative, and cheaper then outright buying an American booster.