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Solar sails could reach Mars in just 26 days (phys.org)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Also

The researchers note that one major question of using solar sails is deceleration, or slowing down, upon arriving at the destination, specifically Mars, and while they mention aerocapture as one solution, they admit this still requires further study.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sounds like it's probably best to work out all these issues with small payloads before scaling up to human transport.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It can't really be scaled up to human carrying capacity. The density of solar wind is very sparce. Any sail large enough to accelerate a human habitat would itself become too heavy.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

So I guess we're back to the drawing board.

Do we got those nuclear engines kicking around anywhere?