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I feel so sorry for these poor bastards.
The idea of ships driven by solar sails is nothing new. It has the disadvantage of really slow acceleration, but the advantage of virtually limitless top speeds, as well as not requiring huge masses of on-board fuel. In fact, there is a great deal of speculation over whether or not a solar-sail vessel with a skilled helmsman could do the same thing that wet-navy vessels can do -- said faster than the wind that is pushing them.
It just really frustrates me that the first solar sailer, Cosmos 1, ended up in the Barents Sea because of a problem with the lift vehicle, a submarine-lauched Russian Volna rocket.
Better luck next time -- and please, let there BE a next time!
The idea of ships driven by solar sails is nothing new. It has the disadvantage of really slow acceleration, but the advantage of virtually limitless top speeds, as well as not requiring huge masses of on-board fuel. In fact, there is a great deal of speculation over whether or not a solar-sail vessel with a skilled helmsman could do the same thing that wet-navy vessels can do -- said faster than the wind that is pushing them.
It just really frustrates me that the first solar sailer, Cosmos 1, ended up in the Barents Sea because of a problem with the lift vehicle, a submarine-lauched Russian Volna rocket.
Better luck next time -- and please, let there BE a next time!
