Word: sail
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...force of the sun's light is extremely small-9X10-5 dynes per square centimeter, or about the weight of four cigarettes per acre of surface at the distance of the earth. But it is free and unfailing, and in the weightless, placid vacuum of space, large, frail sails might be spread to intercept it. For a starter, Dr. Cotter would like to try a 50-lb. space sailer. Once launched in the usual way to an orbit around the earth, the satellite would sprout a circular sail of thin plastic coated with shiny aluminum. If the satellite...
Outward Bound. A sail 50 yds. in diameter, Dr. Cotter figures, should weigh only 25 lbs., leaving 25 lbs. for the hull, instruments and controls. This gossamer structure, more delicate than a firefly's wing, would be strong enough for sailing in space. Meteors would punch small holes in it but do no serious damage. It ought to remain spaceworthy for many years...
...simplest maneuver for a sailing spaceship, says Dr. Cotter, will be escape from the earth. The satellite will be placed in an orbit in the plane of the earth's orbit around the sun (see diagram). After spreading its sail, the satellite will be designed to have a slow turning motion, rotating once during every two trips around the earth. When it is moving away from the sun, its sail will be at right angles to the sun's light, and it will get the maximum push in a forward direction. By the time it gets...
Orbit to Orbit. Once free from the earth, the space sailer would fall into a solar orbit, use sunlight to waft it almost anywhere in the solar system. For such maneuvering it would need a way to change its sail's angle to the sunlight; Dr. Cotter believes that this can be done by gyroscopic devices that act in response to radio signals from the earth. With its sail broadside to the light, it will be pushed farther and farther from the sun in wider and wider orbits. Eventually it will reach the orbits of Mars or the outer...
...Forward, my lads, sail on, for Death...