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Article #101Re: Solar Sails
From: Frank Crary
Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1992 17:16
Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1992 17:16
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In article <1992Oct29.151201.8187@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> rbw3q@rayleigh.mech.Virginia.EDU (Brad Whitehurst) writes:
>>The particle momentum is less than 1% that of the radiation pressure.
> Interesting. NPR had a bit this AM about the solar sail
>"regatta" to the moon. I didn't listen closely, but they did speak of
>using the solar particle wind. Is this an error on their part, or is
>the particle flux in the earth-moon system stronger somehow?
An error on their part: The radiation pressure at the Earth is of
order P/c = 1.4E3/3E8 = 5E-6 newtons/m^2. The particle pressure
is of order Nmv^2 = 9E6*1.6E-27*5E5^2 = 3E-9 newtons/m^2.
Frank Crary
CU Boulder
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Newsgroups: sci.space Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!boulder!ucsu!ucsu.Colorado.EDU!fcrary From: fcrary@ucsu.Colorado.EDU (Frank Crary) Subject: Re: Solar Sails Message-ID: <1992Oct29.171604.23760@ucsu.Colorado.EDU> Sender: news@ucsu.Colorado.EDU (USENET News System) Nntp-Posting-Host: ucsu.colorado.edu Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder References: <1992Oct28.202753.10814@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> <1992Oct28.235558.1187@ucsu.Colorado.EDU> <1992Oct29.151201.8187@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1992 17:16:04 GMT Lines: 15