Solar Sailing to the Outer Solar System and Interstellar Travel

[@LaunchPadAstronomy]

🔴Learn how solar sails will help us image exoplanets at the Sun's Gravitational Lens: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hIKponeBh6aFhas

[@firstnamelastname9918]

Aw man, you left out the COOLEST part about how photons push w/o having mass! Well, to me that's the most amazing part of the story. Maybe your videos are so fun because you don't dwell too much in the details. Wonderful videos, thank you!

[@LaunchPadAstronomy]

Thanks! But I did discuss that bit about photon momentum because it is, as you say, the COOLEST 😀

[@TheBowersj]

wouldn't ion thrusters be more efficient at 7-25 AU speeds, I realize that adds a lot more mass but maybe the craft can continue accelerating past Jupiter with a pocket RTG ion thruster combo that would continue at 0.1 pounds pressure over 15-20 years. I would like to see these sats be repurposed after their mission to do a flyby past an interstellar object perhaps 1I/ʻOumuamua, or 2I/Borisov . Those are twice the speed of Voyager so a flyby would be a race to catch up with it.

[@conanobrien1]

How would you get information back to the Earth from distances you were talking about?

[@haftago2]

Not only a fascinating subject. Your presentation skills are excellent

[@LaunchPadAstronomy]

Thank you very much!

[@brianwebber6996_ROADHUNTER]

Yes they are!

[@alexandermartin1837]

You will love the exoplanets channel too ;)

[@ckdigitaltheqof6th210]

Mr Ready, even makes Jack Horkheimer star gaze presentation, look like a celestial commercial, done by Ben Stein

[@johnmanderson2060]

This video was a masterclass on solar sails, the best ever. Furthermore you have a genuine talent for narration, this makes a huge difference too. Thanks a lot!

[@vinces8209]

Thanks for not having an overwhelming amount of ads selected, and of course for providing food for thought 😉

[@junkmail4613]

15:20 My heart throbbed as you mentioned CubeSats, Planet 9, Gravitational gradients, and Triangulations. Damn, I loved it. A pet excitement as you know. Thanks.

[@DerkMiester]

Love this. I think the greatest pain I feel is the time needed to develop and fund these awesome missions. I only have so much time on Earth to learn all the wonders of the cosmos!! (If only Nasa had the budget of the military...)

[@Treassurehunter92]

Amazing content as always. Greetings from Bulgaria.

[@LaunchPadAstronomy]

Thank you very much!

[@jeffreyjefferson536]

Thank you for another great video about a very interesting topic! I appreciate your presentation, serious but always with a smile, and your own interest and enthusiasm comes across at all times. Keep up the great work!

[@PuneetVijay]

Very detailed and nice video. Loved the current status and future missions. Great work, keep them coming.

[@LaunchPadAstronomy]

Thanks, will do!

[@bradleyfitzik3603]

Lol I don't know why but I keep looking at the Grateful Dead poster in the background of where he speaks from ;-)

[@andreamichelevincenti]

GREAT VIDEO

[@LaunchPadAstronomy]

Thanks!

[@PafMedic]

Wow,I Didnt Know We Had Already Launched a Light Sail,And Now 2 Sweet,Im Behind On My Video’s,Im Getting There,Thank You Christian ,I Truly Enjoy Them❤️🔭🌏🙏🏼

[@lchappo]

Sails first allowed humans to discover unknown worlds on earth on ships. I love the fact that now we may also be able to use sails to explore our solar system and beyond too👍

[@qpwodkgh2010]

Okay, you twisted my arm. I'm now a subscriber. Great channel, excellent presentation.

[@alanheadrick7997]

I really like the laser idea, propulsion, power, heat all in one. Probably need some sort of space based laser system.

[@IamINERT]

Probably my most anticipated space project.

[@treytiks5359]

Very good work. I like this. I will wait for new videos on the channel!

[@LaunchPadAstronomy]

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@anna.m8]

those kind of videos make me feel kinda nostalgic, but towards the future....

[@Jonah_Anthony]

The English language needs a word for this feeling

[@bakdiabderrahmane8009]

thank you for an other great video

[@ScullyPop]

I could watch this stuff all night. I have a buddy who is big into quantum physics, and we often talk about Plato and Tesla and Einstein.

[@uoppsdnsu4266]

Thanks for the great video as always, can’t wait for the future of solar sails!

[@amirmn7]

How scientists even came up with Planet 9 idea? Need more info about it. So exciting. Thanks for this video

[@LaunchPadAstronomy]

My pleasure! Here's my first video on Planet 9: kzbin.info/www/bejne/p3uZnmCinb5me7M

[@dewiz9596]

Wow. There are some great minds to envisage these orbits. . . and great presentation. Thank You.

[@LaunchPadAstronomy]

My pleasure, and thanks for the kind words!

[@xdm9guy]

I think they will find that solar sails cannot “tack up wind” like a sailboat. Every sailboat has a keel of some form that creates lateral resistance. Your solar sail will not have a keel because there is nothing to generate lateral resistance. The net result will be that as the sails are angled away from the solar wind their efficiency will get lower and lower, all the while moving directly away from the sun.

[@philochristos]

Stuff like this makes me want to live longer so I can see what happens.

[@onlooker774]

Imagine craft is set for sailing and move to the point for becoming telescope, then what is next, using it for a period of time until it will fly further and eventually go out of reach? I just couldn't imagine how to break its speed and park in to desired spot... do I miss something?

[@Aiasmor]

Seriously a great video!

[@Locut0s]

I’m actually kind of astounded that the light pressure on a sunny day amounts to even a paper clip. I’m guessing this is distributed over the entire body. But still that’s an amount of force that when concentrated in say the hand could actually be felt to a degree.

[@theorangeoof926]

It would also be felt through intense sunburn if it was focused on your hand 😅

[@bartmannn6717]

4:05 Ok, so, as small as it may be, isn't this pressure slightly but constantly changing earth's orbit, pushing it outwards? Or is there something else canceling that effect? It's been 4.5 billion years and we are still here, so.....?

[@LaunchPadAstronomy]

Yes, that's right, but the Sun has also been slowly expanding as well, which ever so slightly weakens its gravitational pull on Earth so the orbit expands outward. There's also very slight drag forces acting on the planet, drawing back in, etc. In other words, yes but it's a negligible effect.

[@bartmannn6717]

@@LaunchPadAstronomy Thank you for your answer! The weakening gravitational pull would be however more of the same, adding to the outward movement, right? I've read now a little bit more about it - so, it seems the surface-volume-ratio of the earth (sphere, not disc, haha) with its high mass density is very unfavourable for light-sailing (who would use a sphere as a sail?).

[@LoPhatKao]

Best example of a solar sail I've read was Dr Robert Forward's book "Rocheworld" The technical appendix regarding the craft and laser launch system is fascinating

[@TeamLegacyFTW]

"Solar Sailor" by Daft Punk is an amazing song btw~

[@UrbanVanlife]

This was fascinating to watch . Love the little bit in the middle Hahahaha how do you say it again lol . And man them sails are huge . But come on laser beams . Noooo surly not . Great video mate relly enjoyed this . But kind of wanted it to go on longer I was hooked start to end . And your patreon is growing as well . Congratulations on that sir well done

[@tombouie]

Well Done

[@prdoyle]

Awesome. Have they considered adding a little rocket stage that would be fired at solar periapse to pick up even more speed?

[@nathanlewis42]

How will a sail craft to the sun’s gravitational focal point slow down?

[@jacksoncapital456]

Great video thank you

[@LaunchPadAstronomy]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@sams_3d_stuff]

Such an amazing presentation, thanks☺☺☺

[@davetuttle9701]

Excellent video

[@NGC-catseye]

This reminds me of a movie ‘treasure planet’ where they flew sailing ships in space. Keep the great info coming. 🔭

[@LaunchPadAstronomy]

Thanks!

[@unnatural_log6472]

Would love to see a video on an Aerograity assist spacecraft.

[@stevemickler452]

Great video. Love solar sails but strictly speaking chemical rockets are capable of even higher speeds away from the Sun than 7 A.U./yr.. By first launching to Jupiter for a gravity assist; the craft achieves a very low perihelion and fires up its engine for a delta V of 10.000 mph or so and departs with 180,000 mph or more of hyperbolic excess velocity. A solar thermal rocket could top this. Zubrin describes a solar sail doing this and accelerating at 20 gees to get a good fraction of 1% c if memory serves.

[@ProperLogicalDebate]

How much Drag do they have that slows them down?

[@LaunchPadAstronomy]

Gotta watch the video first :D

[@colinp2238]

@@LaunchPadAstronomy Presumably if this technology was used for interstellar missions we need to do a lot of research before taking the first step out of the zone of Solar influence?

[@LaunchPadAstronomy]

@@colinp2238 Yes, there's a lot to learn about the ISM surrounding the heliosphere. Voyagers 1 and 2 are out there now but of course weren't optimized for an ISM mission. The next step will be sending sails out there to measure drag forces, etc.

[@IamINERT]

Anyone knows how it reacts with plasma? Because there is alot of them out of the heliosphere 😄

[@Kitsaplorax]

How do you power a transmitter, let alone build a shielded electronics suite that weighs 15-60 grams in total craft mass?

[@dsdy1205]

single cubesat boards already weigh close to that, with some further miniaturisation such a craft isn't too out of the question

[@ajittani]

P=MV, if M=0, momentum should be 0. How can light have momentum. Please explain

[@naamadossantossilva4736]

I can't stop thinking about how much more powerful an impactor propelled by this tech would be.

[@SonofTheMorningStar666]

Yay!

[@LaunchPadAstronomy]

You're very kind :)

[@modolief]

Trajectory -- tra jec to ry ! Thanks for the LOL moment 😀

[@LaunchPadAstronomy]

😁

[@smallhatshatethetruth7933]

what about building a laser in space that draws power from the sun and using that to accelerate craft?

[@cullyx2913]

Fascinating

[@Dragrath1]

If this happens a mission to Eris would be awesome I'm curious about how similar or different it is. Additionally you can't forget the very distant world Sedna which will reach perihelion of 76 2076 before receding into the dark abyss of the outer solar system with an aphelion of 937 AU In particular the mass distribution and dynamics of the dwarf planets compared to their compositions could help us understand planet formation. It would be especially interesting to see how they evolved relative to each other i.e. what differences effected their formation.

[@rhoddryice5412]

... aphelion of 937 AU.

[@Dragrath1]

@@rhoddryice5412 yeah I have no idea what went on to cut that off thanks

[@desmond-hawkins]

9:45 a preview of the toilet bowl of the future, with a flying probe scanning your giant log to monitor your health

[@sergusy]

Hi Christian. Nuclear Fusion. This is the only way to start exploring space in a wide scale. By the way, have you gotten my letter?

[@LaunchPadAstronomy]

Hi Sergusy. Nuclear fusion and Matter/Antimatter are probably the fastest acceleration/speed short of a warp drive, but low-cost sailing is probably the next best thing in many respects. As for the letter, I haven't received it yet. The mail is running much slower than it should be in the U.S. But thank you for writing and I'll keep an eye out for it!

[@sergusy]

@@LaunchPadAstronomy Annihilation by itself is like a battery. Somewhere, on a special facility, you can make antimatter, spending tremendous amount of energy. After that, you use antimatter whenever you want. Fusion, from the other hand, is a source of energy. Hydrogen is the most abundant material. Learn how to fuse, and you'll never ever would use anything else. Which brings us to my letter. I am sorry, Christian, I confused you. Saying letter I mean the e-mail, where there is some information related to fusion. maybe it's got lost somewhere.

[@doanviettrung]

I discovered that you are not in your 30s. The past few videos, I listened but didn't look. My 2nd most important comment is: your videos are Inspirational, and I learned from them

[@BytebroUK]

I may have missed it if you've covered it before, so forgive me. But you get your super-light-weight super-efficient sail-driven sat out wherever you want, but it cannot possibly carry anything like a the mass of a useful long-range antenna. So you'll never be able to talk to it, surely?

[@jamesdavison6290]

Inspiring!

[@dymytryruban4324]

Photons don't have the *rest* mass. This allows them to travel at the speed of light. Any particle of a finite mass will have infinite mass at such speed.

[@grimreefer213]

That’s crazy to think we could send nanocrafts to other nearby stars. The only problem is how would you beam the data back?

[@LetsGoSomewhere87]

Love your videos! One thing i noticed in this video, you are saying altitude, but comes across as attitude. I thought i was just hearing it, but thats even what the auto subtitles show. Just trying to help not be picky.

[@LaunchPadAstronomy]

Actually, I am saying "attitude". That's the term for pointing and orientation. Cheers!

[@LetsGoSomewhere87]

@@LaunchPadAstronomy well now i feel dumb. Sorry

[@LaunchPadAstronomy]

Don't feel dumb. I learn stuff like this every day.

[@TuNguyen-vu1cg]

I have a question if we could designed a solar sail to the outer of Solar system, how about its fuel to use in scientific phase (like take a photo of planet 9)

[@TuNguyen-vu1cg]

It's seem can't RGT to use, because it has a long time to get that point, and when it get that point, plutonium seem to be decay to not enough enegy left

[@LaunchPadAstronomy]

RTGs might work, considering that both Voyagers' RTGs are still generating power after 40+ years. The solar sail might be able to reach P9 depending on its distance and the time needed for a sail to get there.

[@TuNguyen-vu1cg]

It seem a bit hard to balance the low mass of solar sail and the mass of plutonium we bring in this solar sail to use in scientific phase. The scientists must improve so many technologies to set a sail to outer of Solar system. But it seem somes journey to inner Kuiper belt objects with solar sail are realizable. Also thanks for your reply

[@creeib]

Looking forward to Artimas

[@oceania68]

Stay home, stay healthy and build a cube sat ;)

[@tHeWasTeDYouTh]

ask Count Dooku, he has solar sails in his personal ship

[@AdamSalinsky-xp2jd]

I ACCEPT

[@LiLi-or2gm]

But in space, there are no paperclips! 0_o

[@LaunchPadAstronomy]

DoH!

[@edthompson9569]

Interesting.

[@will2see]

16:19 - You made a mistake there. We don't know if 1I/'Oumuamua was an asteroid! In fact, we don't know what it was/is (and we will never know). It is a strange and unusual interstellar object in every regard and thus it should be called this way - an interstellar object. It is the most neutral description. We can write another thousand papers about what we think it was/is, but the fact remains that we will never know what it was/is. The object manifested (apart from other things) a rather strong non-gravitational acceleration, something that asteroids don't do. Please, let's stay objective without preconceived beliefs.

[@DoctaOsiris]

Anyone else glad that Uber isn't in charge of this kind of Ride Share? 😲 🤣

[@wmellor87]

15:45 Kick at Starlink...yeah. 12,000 of those suckers has gotta hurt

[@new_contents_all_day]

No fuel heh ,, how do you slow down the craft

[@LaunchPadAstronomy]

You don't. They eventually leave the solar system.

[@new_contents_all_day]

@@LaunchPadAstronomy what if I have a solution .. you could modify its design to create negative accileration

[@new_contents_all_day]

@@LaunchPadAstronomy I don't know if we have light weight materials to do that .. but it will work

[@akuma7616]

Akatsuki, haha 7:08

[@LaunchPadAstronomy]

I hope I pronounced it well enough.

[@akuma7616]

@@LaunchPadAstronomy My comment is a reference to a anime called Naruto. I believe in Japanese it had something to do with the cloud. And your pronunciation was wonderful, great vid!

[@LaunchPadAstronomy]

Thank you!

[@josephreagan9545]

Couldn't you just fly around the sun a bunch of times to build up speed and then go flying off towards your destination once you reach your max speed?

[@antonvelmozhnyi7401]

Make it 62.5 au/year and humanity reached 0.1% of light speed

[@1_glucose_biscuit_lifetime564]

Just pondering on an idea I just formed..... What if there was an advanced sailcraft missions in stages, spacecraft(or planatery surface constructs) with powerful lasers that could be placed at different locations in solar system each utilising novel sources of energy(Geothermal alternates, ), and we would command them to point at particular sail from command centre at 🌎 😂 I know it's silly but thinking about this makes it really believable in next 500 years.

[@1_glucose_biscuit_lifetime564]

It even has a fictional name for those, Super Beam Towers(SBTs)

[@allenheaton7288]

In 1984 nasa discovered a heavenly body bigger than the planet Jupiter that at that time was only 50 billion miles away. I have the original article from the Washington post...they were not sure what it was then a week later nothing was ever said about it again..are you aware of this?

[@wraithofsolidarity]

I wish I wish I wish I had a fish.. no, wait.. I wish I could go 1.26 million miles an hour.

[@lubricatedgoat]

You're going about 1.32 million miles per hour right now, so wish granted (relative to universal background radiation).

[@jagaszepielak2601]

Cool worlds is the best

[@LaunchPadAstronomy]

Thanks, but I’m actually Launch Pad Astronomy :)

[@Jonah_Anthony]

Trajectory

[@colinp2238]

So our spaceships no nothing about god? Well at least it won't bias their findings.

[@colinp2238]

@tore springare Agnostic?

[@colinp2238]

@tore springare Hmmm seems like you need to learn a word - humour.

[@ThompPL1]

15:42 . . . So let me see if I get this *subtext* right : "Finding a new extremely distant, dark, and inconsequential dwarf planet is somehow *much more* important than connecting the World's poor rural population to *unlimited knowledge* via Starlink's orbital internet !" . . . . wow that comes off as self-satisfied & elitist, much ?? Besides, we are going back to the Moon to stay, right, so therefore . . . !?

[@M.W.Zastrow]

Am I the only one there get's a echo when Christian talks ?

[@mlzphoto-official]

lol reaching pluto in "just" 5,5 years - oh my god, we are sooooo much behind schedule. by now we should be travelling the galaxy not our solar system :( with the snail slow research going on we will never reach other solar systems.

[@christopherphillipskeates9194]

ancient egyptains believed to enter heaven your heart had to be lighter than a feather .. a one gram soler sail 50 feet across to alpha centuri may be .. did they know something we dont but are about to find out .. aleiens may be ? ... skeatesybubbygoddess2021

[@charlesclements4350]

I am getting tired of al of this "They could do this later on." All we ever get to see is an artist conception. I want results not just promises.