I was thinking about the U-232 version.
1-3 years seems a little short for those long missions, and obviously you would need to be able to throttle it for any sample return missions. You could easily do this if the sail were umbrella-shaped - just partially close it - but as I said the force from the sail would act to force it open again. (To be fair it would be doing that as soon as you built it in the first place.)
As for holes I wasn't thinking about performance; if there's a hole then it will tend to make the craft rotate regardless of which way you point it. It's not really a solar sail after all, just a very, very wide rocket nozzle.
It's a very interesting idea on the whole, rather like a solar sail that carries its own sun with it.
Incidentally, my issue with Kerbal is that I prefer proper games. I used to play a lot of bridge builder back in the day, but I wouldn't really call it "fun".
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jonbob loves you, Sat 10 Feb 2024, 22:56,
Reply)
I think the science and career modes make it a proper game (missions, unlocking the tech tree, managing funds & reputation, finding all the eggs, etc).
The thrust is just photons, very weak. As you say, whatever mechanism is built to hold it in place for launch will be strong enough. It needs actuators for unfurling and sailing anyway... Making a system rugged enough to safely furl and unfurl several times might add a lot of weight though.
Assuming this sail can do everything a wind or solar sail can do, it could compensate for holes. Assuming the sail is sufficiently huge, a few dozen fist sized holes would be negligible.
If you lose 50% of the sail you lose half your thrust, but you'd also lose 50% of the mass of the sail, which would slightly compensate. There must be an equation for that.
Orbital rendezvous wouldn't be that much more difficult with a very slowly accelerating ship. Not colliding with the giant sail would the the tricky thing IMO.
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brb Monkhouse Stampede, Sun 11 Feb 2024, 0:33,
Reply)