sail

Researchers unlock the keys to designing an interstellar sail

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How do you design a sail that can get a spacecraft to another solar system?  NASA’s Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes, which launched in the 1970s, remain the only two human-made objects ever to leave our solar system. While the pair have defied expectations and are still operational, researchers continue to devise new missions … Read more

Two New Studies Just Outlined The Basics of Building an Interstellar Light Sail

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For centuries, people have dreamed of being driven at speed across the vast oceans of space by winds of light. As whimsical as the idea sounds, nudging reflective sails slowly towards the speed of light using nothing more than the punch of photons might be our only plausible shot at reaching another star inside of … Read more

Did monkeys really sail the oceans on floating rafts of vegetation?

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The mystery of how some species colonised new continents is as old as the theory of evolution itself. Now, with fresh clues surfacing, the rafting hypothesis might finally sink or swim Life 15 December 2021 By Graham Lawton Brett Ryder IN DECEMBER 2016, Uwe Fritz at the Museum of Zoology in Dresden, Germany, was doing … Read more