this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2024
487 points (99.8% liked)
science
14548 readers
545 users here now
just science related topics. please contribute
note: clickbait sources/headlines aren't liked generally. I've posted crap sources and later deleted or edit to improve after complaints. whoops, sry
Rule 1) Be kind.
lemmy.world rules: https://mastodon.world/about
I don't screen everything, lrn2scroll
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Doesn't "solar wind" refer to the physical particles emitted from the sun? Like hydrogen, helium, etc ejected from the sun's outer layers?
My understanding is that the solar sail is propelled mostly by the photons themselves, not the atomic particles that may also be reaching it.
Of course this probably doesn't change your argument at all, since the intensity of light drops off precipitously as you fly further and further from the sun.
You're correct, the solar wind is like .5% the energy of the emitted photons and really begins to diminish after only 1.5AU, so they're even less effective in system without a laser array than I half remembered.