“Light sails can propel spacecraft using the energy of the Sun. Credit: NASA/Aero Animation/Ben Schweighart” (ScitechDaily, Humanity May Soon Have the Technology To Reach Other Star Systems)
A large Mylar structure with a metal shell. It can. Make it possible. To create a large radar satellite. That satellite can look like a spinning version of the Solar sail. The system uses Doppler radar. For making highly accurate radar images. The same technology is used in photonic solar sails. It can be used to create orbital mirrors. That turn laser beams in the right direction.
These kinds of mirrors can be used for systems that turn high-energy laser beams. Into systems. That can destroy satellites and high-flying aircraft. Megawatt-class laser beams can be created by using multiple smaller lasers. Those lasers can be ground-based. Or. Orbital lasers. Large-sized Mylar structures. They can help to keep the thermal level lower. But then, to interplanetary and interstellar solar sails.
Solar sails are always similar systems. The interplanetary solar sail uses solar wind to push it forward. The interstellar version uses photons. The interplanetary solar sail can also carry massive radar in its structure. That radar can be used to research the internal structures of the planets.
There is a possibility. To use those solar sails for interstellar travel. The problem is the weak thrust of photons. In an ideal mission, a solar sail uses the plasma flow to travel out of the solar system. And then a massive laser starts to push it into interstellar space.
Maybe humans will get the technology to travel to other solar systems sooner than we thought. The first probe that we will send to other solar systems. It could be the photonic solar sail. The photonic solar sail can ride on a photonic beam.
First, that solar sail could use the solar wind. Plasma that the Sun sends into space for acceleration. When the distance to the Sun increases, the system. It can transform to use a photonic drive. The thrust that photons give is so low. The solar sail must use some other systems. To accelerate to a speed high enough for the sail. It can travel out of the solar system.
“An artist's conception of the Project Orion. "Basic” spacecraft, powered by nuclear pulse propulsion.” (Wikipedia, Nuclear pulse propulsion)
One promising first-stage acceleration system is called Nuclear pulse propulsion.
In the 1960s, the U.S. Air Force proposed Project Orion. The idea was to use a series of low-yield nuclear explosions. To send a rocket to other planets. Those nuclear bombs were planned to detonate behind the spacecraft. That thrust could carry the Orion spacecraft to Mars and farther. Then some researchers.
They had an idea. To create a combination of Orion and a solar sail. The system uses nuclear bombs to accelerate the solar sail. The system can use other rockets to transport those bombs into the right positions. When. The solar sail travels past those nukes. The system detonates the explosives.
The system is called the Medusa drive. Medusa system. It can be used to transport the laser that the interstellar solar sail needs to the edge of the solar system. There, the laser starts to accelerate. This interstellar. Solar sail. In every case, that solar sail.
The system uses hybrid technology. First, it uses the solar wind. Then it can use nuclear detonations. And finally, the laser beam pushes it forward. The small nuclear detonations can also push the solar sail. Into the journey. To the Alpha Centauri system. Another way is to use electron-positron annihilation. This annihilation can create the particle flow that pushes the solar sail forward.
https://scitechdaily.com/humanity-may-soon-have-the-technology-to-reach-other-star-systems/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_pulse_propulsion
https://www.reddit.com/r/Boooks1234/s/1z6sflXoLU
