/sci/ - Science & Math

I say use solar sails to ship stuff to Mars for building a colony and then plant the sails at one of the Lagrange points to continuously heat Mars.

Holy shit you guys, get your head in the game. There is nothing wrong with the image of >>4987572.

The laser is based in Sol. The laser accelerates the solar sail ship towards the destination star. The large sail is detached and used as a mirror to reflect the light from Sol back and decelerate the remaining medium sale. The medium sale is then detached to use as a mirror to accelerate the small sale and original ship back to Sol.

>>4314411
Using stationary means of "pushing" vessels would increase those speeds. One shouldn't need to ever waste vessel mass on fuel for accelerating towards an unsettled star system. A solar sail and pushed by in-system lasers would cut the mass of the vessel in half, allowing it to get to much greater velocities and would only leave deceleration to the ship's propulsion systems. Even deceleration could be helped by lasers within the system of origin by reflecting light off the primary sail on to a secondary sail.

OUT OF FUCKING NOWHERE bump!!!!
>missed the first time :P

A solar sail would take several thousand years to reach the nearest star. However, if we use several solar mirrors that stay within the Sol system to reflect additional light at the spacecraft's sail the spacecraft would reach the nearest star in just hundreds of years.

Unlike a self-propelled spacecraft that will be utilizing centuries old technology before even reaching the half way point the solar sail will benefit from technological and infrastructural progress we make after it launches. More and more mirrors could be built and we could eventually use a large space based laser to really get things moving.

The best part is that all it will take is some aluminum. The mission could be launched within the century.

A short pause, then: Gillis, Leslie, Lt. Com. is still in biostasis.

Gillis’s mouth fell open: What the hell. . . ?

No, I’m not. I’m here in the command center. You’ve confirmed that yourself.

This time, the AI’s response seemed a fraction of a second slower. Lt. Com. Leslie Gillis is still in biostasis. Please re-enter your I.D. and password for reconfirmation.

Impatiently, Gillis typed: I.D. 86419-D. Password Scotland.

The AI came back at once: Identification reconfirmed. You are Lt. Com. Leslie Gillis.

Then you agree that I’m no longer in biostasis.

No. Lt. Com. Leslie Gillis remains in biostasis. Please re-enter your I.D. and password for reconfirmation.

Gillis angrily slammed his hands against the console. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath, then forced himself to think this through as calmly as he could. He was dealing with an AI; it might be conditioned to respond to questions posed to it in plain English, yet nonetheless it was a machine, operating with machine-like logic. Although he had to deal with it on its own terms, nonetheless he had to establish the rules.

I.D. 86419-D. Password Scotland.