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A comment on Mission to reach and operate at the focal region of the solar gravitational lens. Parent comment

Re:Mission to reach and operate at the focal region of the s... by tokamak-teapot on Thursday July 28, 2022 @11:02AM (#32265310)
With a solar sail you can just start tacking, right?
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Re:Mission to reach and operate at the focal region of the s... by tgarv on Thursday July 28, 2022 @12:24PM (#32266507)
I think a solar sail mostly works at a broad reach or a run, so it would be more of a jibe than a tack ;)
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Re:Mission to reach and operate at the focal region of the s... by klyrs on Thursday July 28, 2022 @03:05PM (#32268795)
I don't know anything about sailing but doesn't tacking depend on some sort of keel?
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Re:Mission to reach and operate at the focal region of the s... by Sharlin on Thursday July 28, 2022 @03:21PM (#32268986)
With a solar sail you can "tack" by reflecting photons against your tangential velocity – but that only works if the tangential component is indeed what you want to shed. Getting rid of radial velocity is more difficult, and in a hyperbolic (escape) orbit radial is mostly what you have.
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Re:Mission to reach and operate at the focal region of the s... by KineticLensman on Thursday July 28, 2022 @01:22PM (#32267479)
Probably not at 540 AU. Not many photons out there for the solar sail to grip.
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Re:Mission to reach and operate at the focal region of the s... by aporetics on Thursday July 28, 2022 @08:08PM (#32271586)
Lol, nice
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