/sci/ - Science & Math

>>11795683
It is. Also the ability to run in non-rotating mode for a magnetocapture/aerocapture shield that doesn't ablate is great as well.
>point at Jupiter intercept course
>turn on sail in acceleration mode until 200km/s dV is achieved
>coast to edge of Jupiter's magnetosphere
>turn on sail in brake mode
>slow down enough for aerobraking and chemical thrusters to insert into orbit around Jupiter or a moon

The glaring weakness of the system is that you can't use it to accelerate sunward, but I've been thinking of a way to use secondary loop magsails oriented along the main axis of the spacecraft as steering fins to provide "lift" like in Zubrin's classic magsail paper[1]. That would let you go both inward and outward in system and circularize when you reach your destination radius, thus escaping the tyranny of launch windows.

With such a combined system the only thing you need for fast travel in arbitrary directions in the solar system is a series of either mass drivers or beamed power stations to get sunward-bound spacecraft up to ~200km/s velocity... or just to get sheared-flow-stabilized z-pinch fusion torches working and mine deuterium from the gas giants.

[1]: http://www.niac.usra.edu/files/studies/final_report/320Zubrin.pdf