Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Nilsen on November 10, 2004, 03:31:29 PM
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Intersting me thinks
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3999293.stm
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I still like Robert Winglee's idea of using mini-magetic Plasma propulsion(M2P2)....
But it will be interesting to see how this one works out...
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How fast will that thing go before it runs outta fuel?
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the space sail-craft does not need fuel irc
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Originally posted by AKIron
How fast will that thing go before it runs outta fuel?
should be close to what they think M2p2 would do .. .which is
180,000 miles per hour in three months....
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I found it most interesting to see how they are going to launch it.
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Originally posted by Nilsen
I found it most interesting to see how they are going to launch it.
Well hopfully its not a sham for testing a new weapons system in order to avoid international criticism ..
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Originally posted by 1K3
the space sail-craft does not need fuel irc
The sun provides the fuel. They also mentioned lasers. I don't believe either would provide much power beyond our solar system which is why I was wondering how fast it could go before losing power.
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Why in the world would something like this be launched from a submarine, particularly a submerged one?
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well one it gets to the speed the want it souldnt slow down ..... being space and the vacuum it should keep going at what ever speed they think is fast enough! the thing about this test is its the "1st attemp at a controlled solar sail"
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i'm amazed the russians still have subs that work.
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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.
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Because solar sails continue accelerating, they could reach distant targets in amazing times.
It's never going to go faster than the Speed of Light. If it could equal the SOL, it would reach our nearest star in 4.3 years. (And there's nothing there of interest) So I guess 'amazing' is in the eye of the beholder.
In any event, I wish them all the luck.
(The submarine launch is a little strange. Not sure I understand that....)
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This solar kite will fail, on purpose. There is not one reason to fire an extra-orbital missile from an undersea platform. Just to say you can is not enough. Therefore, the real mission is to simulate launching a LEOsat at sea. They could just tell us that, really, it is OK.
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What he said.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 :D ) 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.
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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.