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They dub it as 'the portal' but it seems that there is just a really long, 93million miles-long, magnetic field that connects the magnetic field of Earth and Su
by s_husso 14y ago
They dub it as 'the portal' but it seems that there is just a really long, 93million miles-long, magnetic field that connects the magnetic field of Earth and Sun. So I assume that it doesn't mean that we can 'throw stuff' at one end and expect it to come instantly over to the other end?
Can someone explain is there an application where we could utilize this discovery?
- 46Bit 14y agoI'd surmise that a miniature probe could get a free trajectory to the Sun by taking advantage of this. Not sure how low a mass it would have to be though.
- madaxe 14y agoWhy miniature? Hook into the MFLs with some big coils and you can drag pretty much anything through the field. The sun's magnetic field is immensely powerful compared to anything we're familiar with on earth.
- drzaiusapelord 14y agoIf this force was non-trivial we'd see it when we send out spacecraft or it would affect things in orbit. My gut feeling is that a theoretical probe that could use this would have to weigh so little that it wouldn't be worth creating or its size would greatly limit what it could do.
- numbchuckskills 14y agoYou would need to be travelling in a vehicle at a speed of 88 miles per hour when entering the portal in order for what you describe to occur.
- stephengillie 14y agoIt sounds like the Interplanetary Transport Network, but with magnetic force instead of gravity. Maybe we can manipulate magnetic fields to move things through it? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interplanetary_Transport_Network https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interplanetary_Transport_Netwo...