15-09-2017, 01:08 PM
Olar candles (also called light candles or photon candles) are a form of propulsion of the spacecraft using the pressure of the radiation exerted by the light of the sun in the big mirrors. A useful analogy may be a sailboat; the light that exerts a force on the mirrors is similar to a candle that is blown by the wind. High energy lasers can be used as an alternative light source to exert a much greater force than would be possible using sunlight, a concept known as a sailboat.
Solar sail boats offer the possibility of low cost operations combined with a long service life. Since they have few moving parts and do not use propellant, they can potentially be used numerous times for delivery of payloads.
Solar sails use a phenomenon that has a proven and measured effect on spacecraft. Solar pressure affects all spacecraft, whether in interplanetary space or in orbit around a planet or small body. A typical spacecraft going to Mars, for example, will be displaced thousands of miles by solar pressure, so effects must be taken into account in the planning of the trajectory, which has been done since the time of the first spacecraft interplanetary of the sixties. The solar pressure also affects the orientation (aircraft attitude) of a ship, a factor that must be included in the design of the spacecraft.
The total force exerted on a 800-by-800-meter solar sail, for example, is about 5 newtons (1.1 lbf) at Earth's distance from the Sun, making it a low-thrust propulsion system, similar to the spacecraft driven by electric motors, does not use any propellant, that force is almost constantly exerted and the collective effect over time is large enough to be considered as a potential form of spacecraft propulsion.
Solar sail boats offer the possibility of low cost operations combined with a long service life. Since they have few moving parts and do not use propellant, they can potentially be used numerous times for delivery of payloads.
Solar sails use a phenomenon that has a proven and measured effect on spacecraft. Solar pressure affects all spacecraft, whether in interplanetary space or in orbit around a planet or small body. A typical spacecraft going to Mars, for example, will be displaced thousands of miles by solar pressure, so effects must be taken into account in the planning of the trajectory, which has been done since the time of the first spacecraft interplanetary of the sixties. The solar pressure also affects the orientation (aircraft attitude) of a ship, a factor that must be included in the design of the spacecraft.
The total force exerted on a 800-by-800-meter solar sail, for example, is about 5 newtons (1.1 lbf) at Earth's distance from the Sun, making it a low-thrust propulsion system, similar to the spacecraft driven by electric motors, does not use any propellant, that force is almost constantly exerted and the collective effect over time is large enough to be considered as a potential form of spacecraft propulsion.