4 ms·
But how do you stop?
by pault 5y ago
But how do you stop?
- Robotbeat 5y agoBraking against the interstellar medium (and possibly the stellar wind as you get closer) using magnetosail-like devices… between the stars isn’t completely empty but has a diffuse plasma that can be pushed against magnetically or electrostatically. This is how you’d slow down in pretty much any scenario as it is “propellantless.” It’s a big challenge to get the superconducting coils light enough, but it is a critical piece to interstellar flight, particularly if crewed.
- davedx 5y agoI actually ran numbers on electrosails to decelerate, they do not work, at all - many orders of magnitude. Email me for spreadsheet. Pulsed nuclear propulsion is the only tech we have that works
- Robotbeat 5y agoElectrosails aren’t as good for this as magnetosails; I just included electrosails for completeness.
- Chris2048 5y agoCould a black hole be used? There is apparently a BH with 3x solar mass about 1,500LY away - escape velocity at 830 radius (about 820km from event horizon) is about 0.1c.
- AnimalMuppet 5y agoWell... I like the beamed energy idea. It works to get you out of the solar system. But how do you continue to accelerate from other stars? You fire ahead of you a construction kit for a solar-powered beam-generating station. That beam station can be used either for acceleration or for braking. But how do you get the kit to decelerate? (Remember, you fired it ahead of the ship.) And this problem gets worse as the velocity of the ship goes up. If, say, your construction kit enters a solar system at 0.1 c, it's going to cross it in maybe twenty days. I don't think that's enough time for a solar sail to effectively decelerate it. It's probably going too fast for using planets' gravity to slow it down. And using atmospheric drag is an explosively bad idea. I don't have an answer...
- htrp 5y agoYour braking laser kit is fired out 1000 years ago.... and you hope it makes it there on time