It could just be a matter choosing the right type of wind to sail to the stars of human life.
Researchers from McGill University, Canada, and the Tau Zero Foundation in America have devised a new method to traverse the incredible distances of interstellar. They used a lot of nothing and some inspiration from seabirds.
The spectrum of starlight that streams from the Sun has been one of the most promising ways to travel space. Although photons are small in size, their sheer number and speed make them an interesting source of power to build up the high velocity required to cross light-years without emptiness.
Innovative solar sail technology innovations have been made We have made great strides.Over the years, Models tested to the limitIn the hostile environments of the inner Solar System.
Even though they are functional, all solar sails have one thing in common: the sail itself. Solar sails should be at least meter across in order to collect the photons necessary to propel a craft.
They must also be the right material and shape to convert every photon’s little bit of momentum into motion. They also need to be able to shed heat without causing distortion or breaking.
This isn’t just a problem in materials science. All of these requirements add weight. Even with the lightest material available, the fastest speeds that we could achieve from the Sun’s radiation would still be achievable. Just over 2 percentIt is possible to travel to any star at the speed of light. However, this would take several centuries.
It is obvious that sailing to the stars would not be as difficult if there were no sails.
There is a second type of gale that blows from the sun’s surface. This one is made up of plasmas of ions, not photons. The Sun’s magnetic fields snap and crackle.
Although photons have a smaller number of high-speed electrons/protons than photons, they pack a bigger punch.
These particles could cause problems for traditional sails. They would act on the material’s surface in the same way static is on a woolen jumper. This creates drag and changes the sail’s shape.
An electromagnetic field can provide resistance, but it doesn’t need a large solid surface, as anyone who has tried to push the poles of magnets together will attest.
It’s goodbye shiny materials, and hello shiny material. Superconductor. A cable of just a few metres length could theoretically produce a field large enough to deflect the Sun’s charged wind at a scale of tens of to hundreds of kilometers.
The system will behave more like a magnetic parachutee, which is being pulled by particles at speeds close to 700 km (about 430 miles per second), or less than a quarter of the speed of light.
This isn’t bad. But as birds such as the albatross understand,The winds don’t limit the speed of flying high.
Seabirds can harness the energy of a headwind by looping in and around air masses moving at different speeds. This is what’s called “The Loop”. Dynamic soaringTo gain speed before they return to their original trajectory.
Using a similar trick in the ‘headwind’ of the termination shock – a turbulent zone of contrasting stellar winds used by astronomers to define the edge of our Solar System – a magnetic sail could exceed the solar wind’s speeds, potentially bringing it within reach of solar sails based on radiation alone.
While the technology may not appear to be much faster than traditional solar sails, other forms of interstellar turbulence might offer a better boost.
Even without the slightest hint of dynamic soaring, plasma-based technology is feasible and could place cube-sat satellites around. JupiterIt will take you months, not years.
As with the age of sail, there are many ways that we can take advantage of the currents which wash through the vastness and space.
Yet, seabirds continue to show us the way.
This research was published by Frontiers in Space Technologies.
