| rdfs:comment | - Solar sails (also called light sails, especially when they use light sources other than the Sun) are a proposed form of spacecraft propulsion using large membrane mirrors. Radiation pressure is small and decreases by the square of the distance from the sun, but unlike rockets, solar sails require no fuel. Although the thrust is small, it continues as long as the sun shines and the sail exists. The concept was first proposed by German astronomer Johannes Kepler in the seventeenth century.[1] It was again proposed by Friedrich Zander in the late 1920s and gradually refined over the decades.
- A solar sail was a propulsion device that reflected photons from a star in order to push an object. Between the 16th and 21st centuries Bajoran lightships used solar sails as their primary means of propulsion. Inspired by these ships, Benjamin Sisko built a lightship, the Baraka, in which he took his son as a companion during a flight. (DS9 episodes: "Explorers", "Accession") A Risian luxury cruiser was equipped with a solar sail Quantum slipstream drive. (ST video game: Star Trek Online) The Spectre class ships used an ion glide solar sail for covert propulsion. (NF novel: After the Fall)
- Bajoran lightships were equipped with solar sails. It was discovered that these sails also made them capable of faster-than-light speeds and interstellar travel due to the presence of tachyon eddies in the Bajoran system. The Bajorans used solar sails as early as the 16th century, and continued to do so until as late as the 21st century. (DS9: "Explorers", "Accession") Benjamin Sisko built a lightship that employed a solar sail for propulsion after a visit to Bajor, and took it out into space with his son, Jake, as a traveling companion. (DS9: "Explorers", "Accession")
- So you've got your nice big spaceship, but you have one big problem - fuel. It's heavy and runs out real quick. The solution? Build a paper-thin mirrored sail a hundred kilometers across, and hang it in front of your ship - the pressure of light from stars will slowly propel your ship outwards. As you get closer to a star, you get more thrust, and as you get further away, the thrust drops off according to the inverse-square law. Using the thrust to move directly away from the sun is rarely the goal, since the acceleration is low and continuous and doesn't usually equal the sun's gravity.
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| abstract | - So you've got your nice big spaceship, but you have one big problem - fuel. It's heavy and runs out real quick. The solution? Build a paper-thin mirrored sail a hundred kilometers across, and hang it in front of your ship - the pressure of light from stars will slowly propel your ship outwards. As you get closer to a star, you get more thrust, and as you get further away, the thrust drops off according to the inverse-square law. Using the thrust to move directly away from the sun is rarely the goal, since the acceleration is low and continuous and doesn't usually equal the sun's gravity. Like a sailing ship, which uses the contrary force vectors of the water and the wind to choose its direction, a solar sail ship uses the contrary vectors of the sun's gravity (always in) and the sun's light (straight out). A sail ship angles relative to the sun to either increase or decrease its tangential orbital velocity, and therefore the radius of its orbit. In some cases, a solar sail might be used to "hang" a ship or satellite over a star in a place orbital mechanics don't allow (see: Dyson Sphere), but in this case it's more of a solar parachute. A close cousin is the magnetic sail, a system that uses a huge conductor (kilometers of superconducting wire or a cloud of ionized gas) and a magnetic field to steal kinetic energy from passing solar wind. Since the charged particles streaming from the sun are more massive than photons, this system delivers more thrust, but it requires input energy, and isn't as visually interesting since the "sail" is invisible. For interstellar voyages, the ship is usually propelled by a giant laser cannon in space shooting at the sail. Common in hard science fiction, or as Techno Babble for Space Sailing starships. Examples of Solar Sail include:
- Bajoran lightships were equipped with solar sails. It was discovered that these sails also made them capable of faster-than-light speeds and interstellar travel due to the presence of tachyon eddies in the Bajoran system. The Bajorans used solar sails as early as the 16th century, and continued to do so until as late as the 21st century. (DS9: "Explorers", "Accession") Benjamin Sisko built a lightship that employed a solar sail for propulsion after a visit to Bajor, and took it out into space with his son, Jake, as a traveling companion. (DS9: "Explorers", "Accession") In the 23rd century, the chief engineer of the USS Yorktown attempted to use a makeshift solar sail to focus and absorb radiation from a nearby sun, with the hopes of generating power to keep life support systems online. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home) It appears that solar sail technology utilized by Starfleet had advanced to a point where the sails could be used as an energy source and not just for propulsion.
- Solar sails (also called light sails, especially when they use light sources other than the Sun) are a proposed form of spacecraft propulsion using large membrane mirrors. Radiation pressure is small and decreases by the square of the distance from the sun, but unlike rockets, solar sails require no fuel. Although the thrust is small, it continues as long as the sun shines and the sail exists. Solar collectors, temperature-control panels and sun shades are occasionally used as expedient solar sails, to help ordinary spacecraft and satellites make minor corrections to their attitude and orbit without using fuel. This conserves fuel that would otherwise be used for maneuvering and attitude control. A few have even had small purpose-built solar sails for this use. Some unmanned spacecraft (such as Pioneer 10) have substantially extended their service lives with this practice. The science of solar sails is well-proven, but the technology to manage large solar sails is still undeveloped. Mission planners are not yet willing to risk multimillion dollar missions on unproven solar sail unfolding and steering mechanisms. This neglect has inspired some enthusiasts to attempt private development of the technology. The concept was first proposed by German astronomer Johannes Kepler in the seventeenth century.[1] It was again proposed by Friedrich Zander in the late 1920s and gradually refined over the decades.
- A solar sail was a propulsion device that reflected photons from a star in order to push an object. Between the 16th and 21st centuries Bajoran lightships used solar sails as their primary means of propulsion. Inspired by these ships, Benjamin Sisko built a lightship, the Baraka, in which he took his son as a companion during a flight. (DS9 episodes: "Explorers", "Accession") A Risian luxury cruiser was equipped with a solar sail Quantum slipstream drive. (ST video game: Star Trek Online) The Spectre class ships used an ion glide solar sail for covert propulsion. (NF novel: After the Fall) In 2020, Shaun Christopher recalled that solar sails were used aboard some of Earth's satellites to help maintain their orbit. (TOS novel: The Rings of Time) In 2286, the USS Yorktown's chief engineer rigged a solar sail to provide power to the ship's life support after the Whale Probe disabled it. (TOS movie: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home) In 2364, Wesley Crusher suggested using a solar sail to escape from an alien creature without attracting its attention, but William T. Riker said that method would be too slow. (TNG novel: Ghost Ship)
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