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Radical NASA Propulsion Concept Could Reach Interstellar Space in Under 5 Years
Science Alert ^ | 24 March 2023 | Fiona MacDonald

Posted on 03/25/2023 6:22:05 PM PDT by TChad

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Clever new way to accelerate heavy payloads out of the solar system.
1 posted on 03/25/2023 6:22:05 PM PDT by TChad
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To: TChad

So, beyond Pluto? Still a long way to anywhere else.


2 posted on 03/25/2023 6:25:51 PM PDT by gundog (It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. )
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To: gundog

Yep.


3 posted on 03/25/2023 6:27:51 PM PDT by Williams (Stop Tolerating The Intolerant)
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To: gundog
Still a long way to anywhere else.

Yes. Quicker does not mean quick.

4 posted on 03/25/2023 6:35:58 PM PDT by TChad (Progressives are in favor of removing healthy sex organs from children. Conservatives oppose this.)
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To: TChad

powered by rabbits


5 posted on 03/25/2023 6:36:22 PM PDT by bunkerhill7 (nyc is not there. )
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To: bunkerhill7

Yes, we can all contribute a lot of fuel!


6 posted on 03/25/2023 6:38:50 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (I don’t like to think before I say something...I want to be just as surprised as everyone else.)
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>> $175,000 NASA grant

Racial agitators get far more for their college tuition


7 posted on 03/25/2023 6:40:22 PM PDT by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: bunkerhill7
powered by rabbits

NOT THOSE PELLETS

8 posted on 03/25/2023 6:52:33 PM PDT by TChad (Progressives are in favor of removing healthy sex organs from children. Conservatives oppose this.)
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To: TChad
https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2023/Pellet_Beam_Propulsion/

not new to old-school scifi readers.

A version of LASER boost meets solar sail. Clarke even write a piece for Boy's Life n this...in 1964


9 posted on 03/25/2023 6:54:33 PM PDT by ASOC (This space for rent)
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To: TChad

FTL is the only way.


10 posted on 03/25/2023 6:57:44 PM PDT by Thunder90 (All posts soley represent my own opinions)
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To: ASOC
Clarke even (wrote) a piece for Boy's Life on this...in 1964

Good catch. Thanks.

11 posted on 03/25/2023 7:01:33 PM PDT by TChad (Progressives are in favor of removing healthy sex organs from children. Conservatives oppose this.)
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To: TChad

Sean Jeffrey Christiphet is ready to go.


12 posted on 03/25/2023 7:02:54 PM PDT by cowboyusa (There is no co- existence with Pinks and Reds)
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To: TChad; ASOC

Be careful writing about “Clarke” and “boys” in the same sentence...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke


13 posted on 03/25/2023 7:12:52 PM PDT by fishtank (The denial of original sin is the root of liberalism.)
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To: ASOC

Big difference from laser alone is the amount of mass that hits the sail. In a way this is an artificial solar wind. I like it.


14 posted on 03/25/2023 7:16:03 PM PDT by Chad C. Mulligan
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To: TChad

Sounds like it would be a one-way trip.


15 posted on 03/25/2023 7:21:55 PM PDT by chrisser (I lost my vaccine card in a tragic boating accident.)
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To: TChad

yA KNOW...if you think about it NASA should have branched off long ago with a serious exploration of our own world IE:oceans. SApace is cool and all/satellites etc... TANG....but we no less of our own God given world yet spend BILLIONS running around where we can’t grow a piece of grass?


16 posted on 03/25/2023 7:21:55 PM PDT by mythenjoseph (Positive outlook)
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To: chrisser

I suppose they could send a ship large enough to hold a second propulsion laser that would then be left at the destination. That way the remaining bit could be sent back. Once the laser’s on site, then larger craft could shuttle back and forth.

Maybe eventually set up nuke powered way points that could be used to send craft in any direction at strategic points in the solar system. Just rendezvous with a way point and have it’s laser shoot you to the next leg of the journey.


17 posted on 03/25/2023 7:26:57 PM PDT by chrisser (I lost my vaccine card in a tragic boating accident.)
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To: TChad
I've become cynical perhaps, but I now take all claims made by any government agency, as being a lie, until I see differently.

The track record of government agencies, including the military, have destroyed my faith & trust regarding their honesty. What has been done by our government is not only a shame, it's often been criminal, as we keep learning new revelations from various sources, including whistleblowers from within.

I still love my country deeply, but not what it has become.

18 posted on 03/25/2023 7:29:16 PM PDT by Robert DeLong
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To: gundog

And without a plan to decelerate it, it’s only good for probes.


19 posted on 03/25/2023 7:41:53 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (It's science and therefore cannot be questioned!)
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To: TChad

You’re still taking a couple of hundred generations to get to the Alpha Centauri system, and a few billion generations (with a “B”) to get to the Andromeda galaxy.

They don’t call it “space” for nuthin’.


20 posted on 03/25/2023 7:43:59 PM PDT by Paal Gulli
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