US-made "super-solar sails," the idea
Science and Technology Daily reported that the U.S. scientists of the University of California, Irvine • Ford recently put forward the idea of a super solar sails. He said: "The use of such coated with a special coating of solar sails, just a month will enable the aircraft to take off from the ground FeiDa Mars, comparable courage and opportunity to carry rover No. 7 times the speed of the aircraft."
• younger brother of the James Ford and co-submitted by the idea, is fired from the ground microwave energy, solar sails will be coated in a special coating on the molecular vaporization, when a large number of elements to launch a solar sail, then have a reaction, so that the spacecraft was thrust.
By a number of giant solar sails mirror component. Photon when the sun when shooting at the mirror, solar sails can obtain thrust. 5 years ago, the Ford brothers • examine how to increase the thrust fan when the sun found that microwave energy will be fired at a thin mesh of carbon when the solar sails, solar sails can be the driving force was enhanced by several times than expected. They eventually found that the microwave energy in the heat so that carbon monoxide gas to escape from the surface of solar sails to escape the reaction produced by the process to make solar sails to obtain an additional thrust.
To be published in "Astronomy" journal, the • Ford introduced the use of solar sails to reach Mars, the idea of a month. He said that scientists will be the first spacecraft with a rocket into Earth orbit, the spacecraft opened for the 100-meter span of solar sails, the Earth will launch a solar sail to launch microwave to heat the coating of its elements. Based on calculations, the 1 hour of microwave energy can be fired to accelerate the spacecraft to 60 kilometers per second, than the current speed any faster interplanetary spacecraft. This will require 60 MW of microwave beam energy, the beam diameter of 100 meters and span a considerable fan of the sun and can speed up the tracking of the spacecraft. However, the existing microwave system could not achieve such a microwave beam energy.
The new challenge is how volatile the preparation of the coating. Ideal coating should be able to "retain" a large number of the same light as hydrogen gas, the gas only at very high temperatures can be released. High-speed gas molecules were released after the reaction will reach the maximum. The ideal situation is to unite all the paint had been vaporized, thereby promoting micron thick solar sails continue to fly to Mars. NASA Glenn Research Center physicist Landis said: "Although there are many details yet to be resolved, but the idea is meaningful." (张孟军)
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