LightSail 2 Spacecraft Successfully Demonstrates Flight by Light

Re:LightSail 2 Spacecraft Successfully Demonstrates Flight b... by umvi on Wednesday July 31, 2019 @06:27PM (#20579239)

So you are saying if I put the car in a vacuum chamber and mounted a CO2 cartridge instead, it wouldn't work?

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Re:LightSail 2 Spacecraft Successfully Demonstrates Flight b... by Skunkleton on Wednesday July 31, 2019 @07:20PM (#20579633)

The basic physics at work here is conservation of momentum. Rockets work because they are sending mass in the opposite direction of the main vessel. If you draw a box around the whole system (rocket + spent fuel), you have net zero momentum.

There is a whole separate device called an EM Drive, which claims to basically violate conservation of momentum. It is highly controversial, and unlikely to be anything other than a measurement mistake.

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Re:LightSail 2 Spacecraft Successfully Demonstrates Flight b... by Skunkleton on Wednesday July 31, 2019 @07:06PM (#20579526)

Of course it would, but what wouldn't work is bouncing that CO2 off of some sail.

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Re:LightSail 2 Spacecraft Successfully Demonstrates Flight b... by f5thesystem on Wednesday July 31, 2019 @08:15PM (#20580046)

I would think a sail, or rudder, could redirect the force from the CO2 canister.

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Re:LightSail 2 Spacecraft Successfully Demonstrates Flight b... by Skunkleton on Wednesday July 31, 2019 @10:45PM (#20580729)

It could, but it would be significantly more efficient to just point the CO2 canister in a different direction.

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