Tricky bit: no way to slow down. Hoping for ultralight sensors+laser that can send data back to Earth. (In milligrams? I'm skeptical.) #MAC2
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Replying to @mikeschiffer
Still, launching the package is doable in tens of years with plausible tech. Maybe. Enough to get 100 million to study it, anyway.
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Replying to @mikeschiffer
If you're willing to put the laser in space, could launch sail after sail continuously: SailBeam. Sails fly into probe, accelerate it.
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Replying to @mikeschiffer
Dielectric materials retransmit, absorb less, more survivable.
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Replying to @mikeschiffer
Microsails: 32 million gs.(!) 0 to c (ignoring relativity) in .97 seconds.
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Replying to @mikeschiffer
Velocity limit of SailBeam: 86‰ of sail speed. If sails go 12‰ c, vehicle driven by it can hit about 10‰.
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Replying to @mikeschiffer
Artificial diamond good material. Zirconium oxide also good. Glass not too bad.
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Replying to @mikeschiffer
Must be v. transmissive, high tensile strength. Guidance tricky as range increases: sail flies light weeks, hits right part of probe?
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Replying to @mikeschiffer
Sail should spin for stability, or else it tilts and goes out of beam.
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Replying to @mikeschiffer
I am now imagining a "funny sailship" craze, with spinning umbrellas at all angles. Like Space Patrol: https://youtu.be/nmsTwQb1csc?t=52 …
@mikeschiffer1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
Is it just me or is the video way out of synch with the beat?
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hm, maybe because of starting in the middle. restarted at the beginning and it fixed it.
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. Banned in Sweden. SubGenius, Zhuangist, white-hat troll. Defrocked mathematician. Brain problems.