Re: Whatever happened to the Dust Sail?

[EMAIL PROTECTED] (centaurion) wrote in message news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
> I haven't seen any news on the "dust sail" concept for quite a while.
> Has research on the subject been shelved? Supposedly, ionized
> particles could be effectively linked to a rotating magnetic field
> (generated by a spacecraft) to form a "dust disk", and somehow there
> would be a transfer of thrust from this "dust disk" solar sail back to
> the magnetic field and then to the craft. There was some speculation
> that such a disk could be added to an M2P2 spacecraft. Any news?

Are you sure you're not confusing this with Zubrin's "magnetic sail"
concept for accelerating/decelerating against the solar wind?

Tom Merkle