Scientists from Germany have come up with the idea of using a graphene solar sail as brakes for an interstellar ship traveling at a speed of 13,800 km per second. Their calculations are published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, ScienceAlert reports. For an interstellar ship moving at high speed, brakes are absolutely necessary - otherwise the ship will fly through the entire solar system too quickly, and there will be very little time to collect information. In addition, the ship on the solar sail will be maneuverable - by the way, the other interstellar ship, Breakthrough Starshot, does not have it.
“Only seconds will be for a few shots, and if the flight target is missed, then it's all in vain. On the contrary, if the device can get into orbit around the target, then it will remain there for the entire duration of its work, - quoted by the publication of amateur astrophysicist Michael Hippke, one of the authors of the article.
Hippke and co-author René Heller of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of the Solar System stated that one way to decelerate the craft and get it into orbit is to use a solar sail when the spacecraft comes close to the target, as well as use the radiation and gravity of the stars. Alpha Centauri systems.
In a new study, researchers described brakes for a machine about the size of a bar of soap and weighing about 100 grams. For comparison, the dimensions of the Breakthrough Starshot vessel, developed in the project of Yuri Milner, correspond approximately to a postage stamp.
Breakthrough Starshot will use the reactive principle of movement. An alternative option is to put on the ship a large light solar sail with an area of 100 thousand square meters.
This sail uses photons from the Sun to accelerate the craft and send it to Alpha Centauri. The same principle can be used to decelerate the craft upon reaching the target.
According to scientists' calculations, the sail should be used by the time the ship approaches 4 million km to the star Alpha Centauri A. While photons from the star heat the sail and slow the ship, it will fall into the star's gravity zone and thus enter orbit.
In addition, the authors of the article believe that the ship will be able to use radiation from the star to continue its journey to the star Alpha Centauri B and even, possibly, to Proxima Centauri, the third star in the system, in which the Earth-like exoplanet Proxima b is located.
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Fantastic fantasy, but a ship on a solar sail will have a valuable quality - maneuverability, which is lacking in Breakthrough Starshot. Although the latter has a higher speed. Breakthrough Starshot plans to reach 20% the speed of light, allowing it to reach Alpha Centauri in 20 years.
A ship on a solar sail can develop only 4.6% of the speed of light (13,800 km per second), which means that it will fly to the target for 95 years and then another 46 years - to Proxima Centauri.
So far, the ship of the German scientists is slower than the Breakthrough Starshot, but they dream of speeding it up with a sail. In addition, the sail will use radiation to power the ship and its communications systems. In the article, the scientists described a graphene sail.
The inventors are discussing the possibility of applying their ideas to Milner's project. “Our new concept will provide a great scientific output, but only the grandchildren of our grandchildren will use it,” Heller said. At the same time, the results of the Starshot mission will be available to people within the same generation.
Recall that on April 12 last year, Stephen Hawking and the investor of the Russian passage, Yuri Milner, announced the start of the Breakthrough Starshot project, within which it is planned to make a miniature interplanetary probe for flight to the Alpha Centauri system. The project budget is $ 100 million.