Solar Sails are Even Better Than You Think

Can solar sails change the way we explore the Solar System and beyond? Dr Slava Turyshev definitely thinks so! He assembled an all-star team of researchers in a recent paper about potential science opportunities of using solar sails. In this interview, we talk about the technology behind it, what's its current state, what perspectives it has and much more.
🌟 All-star paper "Science opportunities with solar sailing smallsats":
arxiv.org/abs/2303.14917
🦄 Support us on Patreon:
/ universetoday
🌞 Interview with Dr Turyshev about the Solar Gravitational Lens
kzbin.infolqzJewjZUkk
00:00:00 Intro
00:01:55 Updates on the Solar Gravitational Lens
00:08:04 All-star paper
00:16:20 Sun Diver
00:26:09 How fast will it go
00:34:50 Potential science objectives
00:39:48 Paradigm shift in space exploration
00:47:22 Timeframes for potential missions
00:55:13 Funding for the project
01:02:10 Where to find more
📰 EMAIL NEWSLETTER
Read by 60,000 people every Friday. Written by Fraser. No ads.
Subscribe Free: universetoday.com/newsletter
🎧 PODCASTS
Universe Today: universetoday.fireside.fm/
Astronomy Cast: www.astronomycast.com/
🤳 OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA
Twitter: / fcain
Twitter: / universetoday
Facebook: / universetoday
Instagram: / universetoday
📩 CONTACT FRASER
[e-mail]
⚖️ LICENSE
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
You are free to use my work for any purpose you like, just mention me as the source and link back to this video.

[@Nienormalny]

This interview is epic. If Faser just sits and listen you know it's a thing:)

[@SomakesavuluKundooru]

He was excited just like us 😂

[@shutup-gc2yk]

😢😢😢¹@❤

[@ScienceBusted]

How the Sun Works Scientists falsely claim that the Sun is a fusion reactor, constantly emitting photon particles and solar wind. In fact, all stars are balls of mass, warmer, brighter matter that are oscillating generators and transformers. Because each atom has its own unique structure, it is an oscillating generator and transformer. Atoms are eternal generators and transformers All atoms consist of indestructible, electrically charged hollow spheres and internally charged solid spheres. The so-called electrons are actually negatively charged liquids attached to the surface of the atom. The hollow sphere has multiple layers, each with an opposite charge. The inner sphere and inner layers of all atoms have the same charge. According to Coulomb's law, the inner balls of all atoms oscillate constantly at a natural frequency and never touch the inner layers. Theoretically, the ability of an atom to carry an infinite amount of energy depends on the input. The more atoms there are, the higher the energy density, the higher the temperature, and the brighter the light. Atoms oscillate at higher voltages. Stars do not emit energy or photons outward, but induce other masses around them to oscillate at their frequency. This is the true mechanism of light, photons and radiation.

[@thejocebr]

i cannot stop smiling while watching this. it really just feels like the next big thing in spaceflight and it feels like its moving FAST

[@thatswhatithought6519]

Let’s draw penises on starshot crafts and fly them throughout the galaxy

[@mrzoinky5999]

I like the excitement this guy exudes! I would have to live till 100 also to be able to see this; I will be extremely happy to live long enough to see a probe going through the ice of Europa and see what is in it's oceans.

[@Vorador666]

Damn Fraser you and the team are on fire putting up so much great content right now! I hope it's not too much stress on the life and free time of everyone! Have fun while doing it my bois, it's one of the key to make it successful, pretty sure you are aware of that!

[@JenniferA886]

So true, Fraser is on fire right now… so much good content he is pumping out 👍👍👍

[@chucksweet7533]

Main problem with solar gravitational lens is that you need a separate mission to look at anything different, to look in a different direction means you have to put a different telescope for each observational angle they want, otherwise they will have great resolution of a single target, or extremely limited target space

[@Threedog1963]

I agree. You'd have to survey the sky and pick which target you want to see, very carefully, since your entire mission will be dedicated to that one target only.

[@frasercain]

Yes, that's true. But you get a megapixel image of that target. If these are small and relatively inexpensive to build and launch, you could see a few dozen flying every year, going after different targets.

[@TraditionalAnglican]

@@Threedog1963 - He’s proposing sending multiple missions to different positions 100 AU from earth & launching 5-6 times/year for 10 years. That would give his people 50-60 telescopes distributed in the Oort Cloud, so they could image 50-60 different spaces in the sky…

[@savagesarethebest7251]

I am all for this, could you think what impact it would have on our whole society if we can see the surface of exoplanets. Perhaps learn something new things that nobody ever could imagine.

[@danapted]

If gravitational lending holds true, and I hope it does, we should be able to se its effects in a lot more places around a lot of exotic planets or gas giants in our solar aystem.

[@ZeroIQ2]

Rumour has it that every time Fraser says "Wow" a science graduate gets a grant (if only that was true lol). This was such a great interview, I really hope this mission becomes a successful reality.

[@Jordy120]

Could you and Dr Turyshev be anymore excited. I know I was. As a potty mouthed Aussie you can imagine the expletives i was using being as excited. Great interview! Cheers.

[@jwwebnaut7045]

Exciting prospects, really great! Two points I'd like to make: 1. The analogy with a sailing boat really sucks. A sailing boat is able to sail up to an angle of about 40° to the wind because it has a keel that provides lateral resistance which is *totally absent* from a solar driven spacecraft. A look the force vectors concerned will immediately make this clear. 2. Fraser, I greatly like your interview series: refreshing and unexpected insights about new projects and technology. However, I think *some* images of diagrams would be really helpful, eg. the "umbrella" sail discussed here with its adjustable segments. I'm really unable to imagine how that would look like. Same for the antennae of the radio telescope on the moon's backside. Otherwise, tally ho, and keep up the good work!

[@essay8634]

Not invalidating your request but the paper is in the description if you wanna see pictures!

[@realzachfluke1]

@@essay8634 thank you, friend :-]

[@digitalnomad9985]

So long as the light source and the gravity source is the same or close relative to the sail, you can use the sail to slow the craft to lower the trajectory or speed the craft and raise the trajectory. Instead of playing a wind wing against a water wing as in a sail boat, you play a light wing against inertia/gravity. This becomes less versatile when you're within the gravity well of a planet. Because the light source is no longer parallel to and opposite the gravitational pull. The important way in which it is analogous to a sail boat is propulsion without fuel/propellant. All analogies break down at some level of detail. That's no reason to stop using analogies.

[@coreys2686]

Instead of 40-50 Starlink satellites on a Falcon, imagine you have 15-20 sundiver probes. Imagine the amount of science you can accomplish.

[@swiftycortex]

Thanks for all of the amazing content you create and share to be freely accessible. I'm fortunate enough to be able to pay a little to help you do this beneficial information

[@charlie9462]

LOVE this interview with Dr Turyshev, SO so inspiring and exciting. Just as much as SpaceX !!

[@StormiidaeBlogspot]

What an amazing body of work you've built up on KZbin. It amounts to an open university. I can't thank you enough.

[@SanDiegoSail]

Wow! Talk about a worthy experiment. Lets do it.

[@MD.ImNoScientician]

One of the best interviews I've heard in a while, not only on your channel Fraser, but on most of the popular YT Space channels. GREAT and Thanks! Thank you Dr Turyshev!

[@MrAndrewLarmour]

Dr Turyshev's enthusiasm is infectious. I love that he's so passionate and it made for a great chat. Thanks!

[@robertofabris504]

Wow Fraser, one of the most insightful and inspiring interviews, great job. Thanks for all your wonderful contents

[@kevinhambsch9201]

Hey Frazer, the Plasma Magnet Sail (PMsail) is far superior to the solar sail. Instead of photons the PMsail is "pushed" by solar wind ions. If memory serves I think the SGL focus starts at 550 AU. Re the PMsail it expands as it moves away from the sun and thereby has nearly continuous acceleration. The PMsail also can come to a relative "stop" once in the ISM. Our sims indicate only 6 years to get to the SGL. We've run PMsail past Dr. Turyshev and it seems to me that he's stuck in the rut of what's been around for years...PMsail is currently at TRL 3-4. It has not yet been flown outside of the Earth's magnetoshere. For an example if you wanted to image Proxima Centauri, PMsail would achieve a velocity of minimum 700 km/second. This propulsion concept should not be confused with the Winglee M2P2 or the Janhunan electric sail. I'd be happy to get the studies to you. , Kevin Hambsch

[@daos3300]

we're talking here about executable, viable technologies with ability for immediate implementation being the main point, as stated so emphatically by dr turyshev. as opposed to theoretical technologies which are a long way from becoming reality. given that, 'can be done right now, affordably' is far superior to 'might be possible one day, cost unknown'

[@kevinhambsch9201]

Light sails are being flown in space, but they are barely controllable. Sundiver has never been tested in space , let alone, close to the sun. Inverse square is also another reason light sails don't come up with allot of velocity. PMsail is not theoretical, it has been demonstrated to produce thrust (drag) in a simulated solar wind vis-a-vis an ion thruster in the laboratory Dr. Turyshev I think would be better served by gaining high velocity by method of the Parker Solar Probe (gravity assist). ...current velocity 192 km/second. KH

[@takanara7]

@@kevinhambsch9201 Both types of technologies can be researched. But the inverse square law thing is the reason why the sundiver gets close to the sun, the closer you get your power increases quadratically - so you get really close, get a ton of speed, then use that momentum to carry you out.

[@planetsec9]

There is a tech demonstrator of a plasma sail cubesat called Windrider that aims to achieve a flyby of Jupiter in 30 days on a near hyperbolic trajectory- its one of the coolest things in spaceflight I've ever seen. I think once that happens people will finally get it, some people apparently need to be shocked out of the rut. Similar to those who assumed rocket boosters could never propulsively land and be reused, then suddenly Falcon 9 is doing it weekly now. The plasma sail was discovered in 2005- NIAC phase 1 and 2, to think that nothing further has been done with it by NASA since is so disheartening. I think the fact that it needs to be deployed beyond Earth's magnetosphere to demonstrate the concept is a huge factor in that sadly. It took a long while for NASA to adapt the solar sail which was finally proven in LEO by Planetary Society and just now getting NASA missions. I think momentum and awareness is slowly gaining though, the Dynamic Soaring paper made a huge impact and Fraser even interviewed Professor Higgins about it 8 months ago where he mentions the plasma sail used for dynamic soaring maneuvers. I can imagine Breakthrough Initiatives people also being really interested in it for example for their mission if they don't know already I can only hope that once the tech is demonstrated and people are suddenly aware that we have this new capability now that they start making fast flyby missions of the most low hanging fruit - ʻOumuamua flyby and imaging, Triton's flyby and imaging to reveal its unseen side, Neptune, Uranus and its moons, Pluto, Charon, Sedna, Eris, Makemake, Haumea, atmospheric probes into the gas giants, close flyby of all the Galilean moons, etc. NASA loves to do flybys so here's a propulsion method that finally makes sense to make as many as they want on a yearly basis to every world in the solar system I think they would love that, especially the outer planet community, it's such an enabling technology with endless applications and uses for manned and unmanned spaceflight I can think of.

[@samardevneo]

Both of you are truly inspiring - and the concepts introduced here are nothing short of revolutionary, paradigm shift indeed! Brilliant work Fraser.

[@BitcoinMeister]

Best breaking news show ever on this channel! Totally amazed at what a paradigm shift this could be, no wonder all this big names are behind it! It seems that conservatively this will revolutionize the exploration of the asteroid belt! In theory an organization other than NASA could send one of these devices to Psyche before the NASA satellite gets there! That would be awesome!

[@davidcraft4462]

Great interview! Throughout the interview I kept thinking about the sailing spaceship in DS9.

[@caejones2792]

Name suggestions, eh? First that comes to mind is something to do with that time that Heracles shot an arrow at the Sun, and Helios reacted more positively than you'd expect. Not sure how to get a mission name out of that, though.

[@lurkst3r]

Such an exciting mission! I hope he gets a tonne of funding to make it happen! The solar gravitational lense concept could be an absolute game changer for exoplanet studies.

[@davidswift9120]

Dear Fraser. We know antimatter exists. Does it exist in the observable universe? I mean, might antimatter galaxies exist that we can see? Perhaps not as that would imply antimatter photons, which surely by definition we shouldn't be able to observe (otherwise we'd have been annihilated by now?)

[@stuartreed37]

Epic 🤘 excellent interview. Keep at it, we will get there!

[@EnneaIsInterested]

The big thing I'm interested in would be solar sail space tugs. One-shot 100mt loads with something like Starship, dock with the solar sail, solar sail unfurls, goes to Mars, deposits 100 mt load, then tacks back to Earth, that's a great scheme for propellantless freight on an interplanetary scale.

[@rJaune]

Awesome interview! It would be super cool if we got faster interplanetary discovery as a side effect of getting to the Solar Gravitational Lens location. I hope this pans out!

[@onebylandtwoifbysearunifby5475]

Exciting potential. Maybe we can use some of that Military-Industrial Complex money for space exploration?

[@kayakMike1000]

Money? What money? I have a feeling that they have stuff that's waaaayy better

[@dustman96]

Very exciting concepts. We need to invest more in this kind of technological experimentation.

[@paulmagus2133]

i am very excited by this while concept. wow!

[@soundararajanmanthiri1505]

One of the best interviews for young students and yet to be born space scientists!

[@user-xh4ql9sl3m]

I luv you guys. Effing amazing interview! Thaaanks!

[@Bitchslapper316]

NASA tried test a solar sail during the Artemis mission, it was on a cube sat launched as one of the secondary missions. I didn't see it get much coverage but for me it would have been the most interesting part of the whole mission. It was called "near scout" and was a proof of concept test to use solar sail powered craft to catch up to and investigate near earth asteroids. I couldn't find much on it but I think the sail failed to deploy properly.

[@kuingul]

Yeah. It was mentioned in the video and here's an entire interview about it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rIvLdZWwmdZ0jbM

[@Bitchslapper316]

@@kuingul Cheers, thanks for the link. I missed that one.

[@frictionhitch]

Launch this ASAP! Holy crap this is cool!

[@Reyajh]

This is really soo exciting!!! And his enthusiasm is extremely contagious!!! So let's see, for the demonstration mission: 'Solar Polar Sailor'? :) Although, I didn't see anything wrong with 'Solar Polar Imager' as well... -Cheers!

[@paulc96]

Mission name "SunRunner" surely ? Great interview - thanks Fraser. Along with Nuclear Thermal Propulsion, this must be the future for Space Exploration.

[@Smo1k]

13:30 I think David Hilbert foretold this hexagonal pattern in his early works with Invariants. I forget the exact quote, but it was about the mapping of a "round" function (= a function of angles rather than distances) on a circular "map" one dimension smaller. So: Map angular velocity on a circle, impetus (? mass x angle speed) on a sphere, or any +1/+1, and you will see a hexagonal pattern, somewhere. That's prior to 1890. The mechanical calculator was a toy (as it is now, but it had a period of being an actual tool). That guy must've used a large portion of his visual cortex' processing time seeing stuff. You know... on the couch with eyes closed 😉

[@swiftycortex]

I suggest The Somersaulting Solar Sailer

[@crowguy506]

The obvious suggestion for a mission name would be Daedalus, but they’ll probably find a short acronym instead. Solar surfer would be cool, but too unscientific as well. Acronym. Hmmm..Fast Lightsail Escape Demonstrator. F.L.E.D. Not very catchy. It’s missing a good dual meaning like JUICE.

[@leeming1317]

I think solar sails will be huge in like 50 years, As we manufacturer smaller, and lighter parts, and as space becomes more accessible for say Universities and the like

[@savagesarethebest7251]

The Southern University of the Moon 😁👌

[@Starman_67]

This was a great discussion. The infectious exitment of Slava was a joy to behold. It's so hard not to get caught up in it. I truly hope this happens. Such great potential beyond that discussed.

[@redcirclesilverx4586]

Amazing interview, however im still struggling to visualize how the sailboat modular self assembly spacecraft would actually look. There is only one tiny image on universetoday and no figures in the paper.

[@MusikCassette]

damn it. I wished I had asked this question earlier so you could ask it in this interview. Can the gravitational lens be used the other way around? Could you bring a spacecraft to just the right point in relation to the focal point of a gravitational lens, so that cam be seen from an other star system.

[@ianyboo]

I'm so used to watching Isaac Arthur and contemplating disassembling entire planets within our lifetimes to make all sorts of mega structures that it's strange to hear someone talking about the difficulties of making a small telescope in the kilometer range lol I fully expect to see humanities first Dyson swarm completed within my lifetime :-)

[@essay8634]

Ehh there's not gonna be any demand for that level of energy in 100 years, plenty of much lower hanging fruit.. I would reconsider

[@savagesarethebest7251]

Yes, let's diassamble mercury and just build a big telescope :) it is not impossible, but we don't have a presence there or any infrastructure for doing this right now.

[@Freedom001]

I liked the background music. Thank you Fraser Cain.

[@bigfishoutofwater3135]

Could you use ground-based power to provide additional radiation pressure via a Bessel beam to add additional capability? Could multiple of the craft practically relay either energy to each other?

[@Smo1k]

Unless you're thinking of cannoning the craft off Earth, Humanity's energy generation as a whole is to the tune of 0.000000000000000000000000000000001% (I think I put 30 zeroes in there, add two for the %-sign, and you have the Humanity vs Sun energy per area output ballpark.), so the important thing is using the Sun. Everything else is very much not very much 😉

[@jamesryan3572]

This is probably the most exciting interview I've ever heard. The future is now.

[@junkmail4613]

36:49 The activity with the sail craft might be multi dipping to get much greater accumulated velocities , could be "SOLAR SAIL YOYO" (After the first trip to the sun and back, use the earth to catch and slingshot it back to the sun for another velocity building dip to the solar perigee, and get MORE SPEED)

[@JenniferA886]

Great job… great interview 👍👍👍💥

[@seditt5146]

@Fraser Cain Perhaps you should see about having Dr David Kipping on the show to discuss the Terrascope which gives us similar resolutions to gravitational lens but is not only closer but allows constant use with multiple targets. It uses an atmosphere of a planet as the Lens and while he talks of using the Earth there are issues due to the structure and composition of our atmosphere however mars, being almost a single gas with very little variation from clouds and temperature would make this an ideal target for such technology. This NEEDS to be tested as it would revolutionize astronomy and give us these exoplanets in a matter of years instead of decades.

[@frasercain]

Hi Sedit, I've interviewed Dr. Kipping a view times now. Here's the most recent time we talked: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iKmUY2psmdV7m5Y

[@johnbennett1465]

Would it be possible to do a course correction to view a second target? Obviously the targets would have to be very close in the sky. I.e. multiple planets in a single system or a second system that is almost behind the first.

[@AndersWelander]

What other objects might be worth looking at with the SGL? How about the CMB? And what about gravitons? Are they also focused like photons? I would guess that they are (and I think the energy they carry gravitates like all energy)

[@TyroneTsan]

1:05:29 My mind is blown, what a brilliant idea. Let's get Sundiver flying.. no more talking. This is far too important not to be flying NOW!!! Thanks Fraser

[@paulharland7280]

I wonder if another mission could be for the solar sail craft to continue on down the gravitational focal line and use the focused light of a distant star to get an additional boost for Interstellar travel. I'm not sure how much of a boost it would actually get.

[@frictionhitch]

You said wow at the exact same time I did(moon earth thing). That is so cool! Did you also immediately imagine 2001 a space odyssey? I did. Who wouldn't want to catch the next departure for the sail to the moon? We need to get started on this. This is awesome

[@Aurumk1]

You forgot my name on that paper as I have ways to surpass the speed of light though somewhat unfeasable ideas (aka black holes). One is a transparent solar sail with a highly reflective two way mirror coating on one side and it also flips itself inside out for cooling itself and creating a push to brake and push on a magnetic sail on a ship creating a cavity or a stronger magnetic field to push ions harder into the magnetic sail and create a type of weak vacuum wormhole to help power our spaceships.

[@tylerreeves8026]

Hey Fraser! Just curious if you have time, but is the solar sail concept art on this videos thumbnail representative of the proposed new solar sail architecture? I'm trying to visualize how he is describing it, but an artist interpretation of this craft would really help the layman like myself.

[@frasercain]

From what I understand it would be more like a parachute or umbrella.

[@jamesbell8861]

To be able to see the surface of exo-planets ??? WOW !!! I was thinking that this would not happen until we build a 1000 km crater-telescope on the moon ... so in 100 years from now.

[@essay8634]

How long does the "earth to sun" part of the trip last?

[@theOrionsarms]

31:00 "you cannot use solar power beyond 3AU because would be to weak for solar panels", but they have a huge solar sail that basically it's a mirror, so if they change curvature of that flexible mirror can be used as a method of concentration for solar light, that would allow to use solar power for that probe perhaps at 30 AU or more.

[@zam6877]

There are multiple paradigms inferred here -As technology matures, mass production of downsized probes -This is more possible with lower cost rockets -Greater capacity deep space communication networks

[@charlie9462]

We need to spread/share this. Let's get going. How do I help?(besides telling everyone I know)

[@mbmurphy777]

Great enthusiasm!

[@GRILL332]

His excitement is contagious!

[@NuckinFutsSlo]

Hello Fraiser, I love the idea of gravitational lensing and I see we are always talking about really massive objects that bend the light (stars, black holes, galaxies...) How much bigger would Jupiter have to be to have a significant gravitational lensing effect that we could use for scientific observations?

[@robwarren4296]

Very inspirational. ‘Sundiver’ (David Brin sci-fi) is a great mission name but was also a proposed NASA mission to crash a probe into the Sun. Maybe ‘Sundriver’?

[@robertieachus5865]

Why not build a Sirius gravitational lens? In effect, it is something that any university with a decent telescope can do right now. All those Einstein rings and other strong gravitational lensing effects are due to stars, globular clusters, galaxies, etc., lining up with something worth seeing. Think of a star. I've chosen Sirius A for specificity but any nearby star will do. Around that star is a magnified image of the background starfield that is distorted in ways that a computer can sort out. There just has to be something you want to see in that field. Except you don't. Pick an object you want to magnify. Any exoplanet will do. Find a star nearby when you look from Earth. Compute the point where you get the best view, and send a spacecraft there. You want a point that can be reached with a low x,y velocity vector. It shouldn't be too hard. The spacecraft's solar sails can provide the z vector, and maneuvering in the Sun's gravitational field can pull the craft to a stop in the x and y dimensions. Now you have something much less expensive than a full-scale SGL mission. (In time, which is where most of the dollars go.) So get to work on a telescope main lens made of memory plastic. Use the sun's heat to restore its shape, and once it gets a few tenths of an AU, the cold of space will make it hold its shape.

[@jemdeweare6432]

In the case of bending light you are bending time at the same time but its not easy to interpret all of this in the moment for the now-moment of time , comming back on lightspeed with bending space using timebending

[@brucekinghorn4961]

If you make a close solar approach at the 20 solar radii suggested by Dr Turyachev you will obviously need a large amount of shielding for the spacecraft. Would there be any advantage to dropping the excess weight of the heat and radiation shielding in order to gain more velocity from the same sail area on the outbound leg of the mission?

[@brucekinghorn4961]

sorry spelt Dr Turyshev's name incorrectly

[@Matt33318]

I watched the whole interview, the professor mentioned interesting things. One question, during the flyby near the sun, the main mirror on the board of the spacecraft, how they gonna prevent it that the thermal expansion of it's material can cause defects on it's surface? I know that these mirrors need to bo extremely smooth.

[@mrln247]

Definitely someone should either put this in a game or create a simulator for competitive nerds to mess around with. I haven't got my head around the potential for tacking unless it's playing against the inertia, hence the idea of playing around with a sim, but sail boats can do some very impressive things with just wind. Lets hope they get one up flying soon doesn't actually sound tgat expensive for very interesting technology.

[@TomUlcak]

What an exciting video!

[@alexdevey3188]

Ok. I haven't thought this all the way through but I think its a starting point regarding controlling the direction. So, one beam hits a receiver that can then direct the bean on to any of a, jwst like sail. Obviously the receiver would have to be, to a certain point independent of the sail and have correctional mini thrusters on it. Also the join between the two should be able to be controlled. Maybe even have more jwst like sails , imagine a flower and stalk type of thing. I haven't watched all way through so forgive me if I've jumped the gun. Sorry, I just like commenting, I know it's been thought of,prob.

[@Gargamel-n-Rudmilla]

The quare kilometer radio telescope is not a single telescope but built out of many small radio telescopes. Maybe these kinds of telescopes and the tech needed to combine the radio images can be applied to optical telescopes. Thus we could build a 90sq kilometer optical telescope from many smaller ones in space.

[@geoffmcharg5969]

What a great interview! Very near term missions should be cis lunar. You can get to lunar with a few 10's m/sec delta v. A near term mission to the moon would show the sail works with a real return.

[@zrebbesh]

My math says that at 7 AU per year you can catch 'oumuamua. Problem is it's got a big head start and getting bigger the longer you wait. The trip would take about 20.33 years if you start right now, but you need an extra 3.66 years to catch up with it every year you delay the launch. If you say you can launch in 7 years from now, then it's a 45-year chase or thereabouts that reaches 'oumuamua 52 years from now and around 310 AU away. You'd need to chase your probe with a half-dozen slower probes that just act as radio relays so it can communicate its findings back. So, tricky. But still quicker than getting to the solar gravitational lens.

[@frasercain]

Hold tight, I've got another episode coming talking about chasing down Oumuamua.

[@karllindberg]

Who wouldn't love to be able to see an exoplanet for real? Just do it!

[@philochristos]

This is really interesting. It makes me wish I was younger so I can see the pictures.

[@dakrontu]

Question for Fraser: Does the gravitational lensing effect produce the same magnification in the directions tangential and normal to the circumference of the sun as observed from 1,000 AU?

[@frasercain]

I don't understand. You can see the gravitational lens from any angle, but ones close to the ecliptic will be easier to reach.

[@jack504]

He mentioned power from solar being an issue beyond Mars, could the solar sail be used to focus sunlight on the solar panels at that point?

[@petevenuti7355]

What are those tiles like RTGS he's talking about? Are they like megabetavoltaics?

[@cixcell7735]

This is an amazing mission

[@frankmalenfant2828]

I don't know why it popped into my mind right now, but the city I live in was once called Fraserville. 😅

[@cavetroll666]

Really interesting topic

[@Laembort]

I wonder with the speeds this enables if there is value in making a constellation of observatories to measure parallax within the galaxy.

[@TraditionalAnglican]

Call it Sun Diver or Icarus when approaching the sun & Hermes/Poseidon/Chiron or Oort Cloud Clipper when going out to the Oort Cloud.

[@BOBLAF88]

What an opportunity! The Sun was used to prove Gravitational Lensing and now it will be a principle part of this Solar Gravitational Lens project 😎

[@Zippofanatic77outdoors]

Good sir why dont they send out any more probes like voyager but with better equipment. Attached with some solar sails like Japan had sent out. I think it only weighed a pound

[@mytube001]

Cost. Space exploration simply isn't funded to the levels required.

[@nicholashylton6857]

The Voyager mission relied on an alignment of the outer planets that occurs every 172 years, which allows a spacecraft to be gravitationally assisted from one planet to the next. So the next time we'll have a chance will be in the mid 22nd century. Until then, we'll have to invent clever ways to make our way around the solar system.

[@yevjenirussell9628]

If the sail is also charged positive, it can use both optical and coulumbic forces to accelerate.

[@bravo_01]

❓Can 2 or more Lagrange points from a binary star system overlap each other?

[@ocerams1826]

hey make a way to incorporate a dodge mechanic into the veins of the solar sails to protect them from debris

[@AndersWelander]

I love both solar sails and gravitational lens missions. I hope Elon Musk gets excited about it and creates a factory that churns out big armadas of such spacecraft. Is there any reasonable hope that there would ever be anything even better than the gravitational lens? I am hearing it will never be possible and that sentiment I totally understand. Maybe in some distant future with Dyson spheres. But I very much prefer discussions about things that are within reach now.

[@adamtschupp9825]

Would it be possible to park a solar space craft to be stationary at the north pole of the sun high enough to see the entire Solar system at once?

[@essay8634]

Do you think you'd need to park it? One spacecraft should be able to see everything for a large duration of its orbit, larger the further away it is from the sun. You could have probably 2 to 4 spacecraft synchronized to be at different points in their orbit if you want unbroken vision. But I absolutely think it's possible to park it, because all you need to do is get there, cancel out all your velocity, adjust the surface area of the sail to get the exact same push as the pull that you're getting from the sun and constantly adjust.

[@triskeliand]

Each one of these sundivers needs the ability to speak with later launches, to start creating a signal relay system back to us observers. In fact, I am sure that you could create a focused constellation of individually and temporally separated launches to culminate in a greater scientific experiment using the sum(or sun)of the lesser parts. I am sure there would be modern scientific Ai supercomputers that could add insight in how that any sundiver launches could facilitate communication between said systems and then at one later period of time all or some of these sundivers could cooperate with one another to yield answers to questions that could not be realised with one sundiver launch alone. IMHO Always pays to plan for later. soz, I see you covered this at 1:06:23 that's an NZ soz ;)

[@abrahamsatinger265]

when rovers are developed, are they using the right environmental chemistry (gases/temp/pressure,etc)or pseudo vacuum, account for cold welding, etc. Make it sturdy put it in a egg capsules with a liquid that can absorb the shocks of the rockets, and go lay an egg somehow?

[@ImSweetKiss]

Hi Fraser, i f you could choose would you have Artemis or this?

[@frasercain]

Hah, I'd choose this.

[@ImSweetKiss]

@@frasercain yeah me too. Anyway I wanted to ask if it is possible to transmit information from inside a black hole, then I realized that anyone inside a black hole is separated to the rest of the universe by unimaginable amounts of time. But the question still remains even impossibly impractical can you send a message from inside a black hole using gravitational waves?

[@tombouie]

Thks & the answer to solar sailing thru-out the solar system is space-based PV & lasers

[@brucehansensc]

Lets honor some of the first great sailors, the Hawaiians. Call the mission Holokai.

[@frasercain]

Awesome!

[@dsewtz3139]

Name suggestion: "HSS Bounty" (Humanities Solar Sailcraft Bounty). 1) HMS Bounty was a sailboat, 2) the name given to the klingon Bird of Prey that "sundives" back to 1986 to save the (space)whales in Star Trek 4 😁

[@Smo1k]

Move faster and live longer! This is our times' Live Long and Prosper 🙂

[@alrightydave]

Really interesting