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Drexler's master's thesis has more detail: https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/16234 https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/16234 and pp 7-9 of http://space.nss.
by abecedarius 8y ago
Drexler's master's thesis has more detail: https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/16234 https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/16234
and pp 7-9 of http://space.nss.org/media/L5-News-1979-05.pdf http://space.nss.org/media/L5-News-1979-05.pdf summarize. I don't know what's been done more recently about space-built sails (or other uses of big, light mirrors).
- greglindahl 8y agoJapan has operated a solar sail near the orbit of Venus, several countries and companies are running experiments on using them to make satellites deorbit faster, the Planetary Society is launching Lightsail-2 on the next Falcon Heavy, and the Breakthrough Starshot hopes to make scifi a reality and shine a huge laser on tiny chip-scale spaceships to send them to Alpha Centauri. The field has been active.
- abecedarius 8y agoIt's great to see progress -- I just meant I'm curious about building the sails in space for higher performance, and haven't heard about anyone else trying to refine those ideas.