One thing I got out of this piece is how high up it was in orbit and still had significant drag from the wispy atmosphere, 650 kilometers high! (400+ miles). I didn't think there was much that high but it is enough to cut into the thrust developed by solar sails. So the gist of that is they must have to be over a thousand km up to even start working well.
Originally posted by sonhouse http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2010/11/nasas-spare-solar-sail-reaches.html
One thing I got out of this piece is how high up it was in orbit and still had significant drag from the wispy atmosphere, 650 kilometers high! (400+ miles). I didn't think there was much that high but it is enough to cut into the thrust developed by solar sai ...[text shortened]... . So the gist of that is they must have to be over a thousand km up to even start working well.
Bump! You guys should really look at this cool video!
Originally posted by joneschr What video - at the link you posted I see an article but no video?
Yeah, I checked back and it has gone into the ether...
Here is a short video made by the Planetary society, another one, showing how it is being constructed:
NASA finally launches solar sail:
24 Nov '10 01:42
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