Harnessing solar wind

[chriscdc]

One way to make solar sails more effective could be to place a series of satellites in orbit around the sun.<br />The satellites could have a series of rings, several hundred km in diameter, connected to a long pole or tether.<br />There would be a potential difference between the rings and the poles. The pole would be negatively charged whilst the ring would be positively charged.<br />The charged nuclei in the solar wind would be attracted to the pole and away from the rings. The result would be that you could keep the plasma more concentrated ,than it would normally be, further from the sun.<br />There would be multiple satellites orbiting the sun and so keeping the thrust on a sail constant. The satellites would be relatively simple (mostly wire) and would keep their position by controlling the plasma flow.

 

[tomnackid]

Not sure I understand what you mean by this. Anyway a solar sail is pushed by LIGHT PRESSURE not solar wind particles.

 

[chriscdc]

Yes you get momentum exchange due to light but you also get solar wind particles imparting momentum. Ok so technically solar sail means light alone. <br />There have been several suggestions for craft that can use the solar wind. Eg, a space craft using magnets or electric fields that would interact with the solar wind so that the craft can accelerate.<br /><br />Normally the particles are emitted from the sun fairly evenly over the sun (well apart from coronal mass ejections) and their intensity falls off according to the inverse square law, like light or gravity. Now If you were to place the satellite I described in orbit around the sun It would change the path of the wind travelling through it. Not by much, but if you aimed it at the craft, the craft would experience a force greater, than what would normally be felt at that distance from the sun. <br /><br />Of course the advantage would be small and you would need alot of satellites, but they are relatively simple devices. <br /><br />After a couple of centuries there could be a permanent ring around the equator of the sun, augmenting space travel anywhere in the solar system.<br /><br />You could place a cathode ray on the central tether, This would allow you to dump excess electrons and so keep the potential difference between the rings and the pole constant. <br /><br />The pole would be perpendicular to the surface of the sun and the rings would run parallel to the surface. Imagine a big christmas tree or one of jettson multi-ring thingies.

 

[nexium]

My guess is something like this is possible even if not practical. My guess is a very thin faberic is propelled by both light and particles. A mag sail is propelled only by ionized particles. It may be possible to focus nuetral particles, ions and photons.<br />Perhaps more useful: It may be practical to re-aim a solar mass ejection, so it misses a space craft in danger. Neil