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2024-11-11

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NASA's solar sail successfully spreads its wings in space (www.space.com)

submitted 2 months ago by kalkulat@lemmy.world to c/science@lemmy.world

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[–] paraphrand@lemmy.world 13 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (14 children)

I hope it can be sent somewhere neat once they are done testing. But I assume it’s not configured for long range communication.

It would be cool if it could be sent, slowly, to a “nearby” body.

[–] Passerby6497@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago (13 children)

Iirc, solar sail designs like this can actually go stupid fast when properly propelled by something like a laser array.

[–] Lemming6969@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Just to zoom by the target in 100000 years so quickly no pictures or data can be captured.

[–] GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 months ago

The scientist Robert L. Forward discussed possible ways to handle this in his novel Rocheworld. The fiction part wasn't about the light sail, more the general AI, life extension tech, and the aliens.

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