Re: [ot] bulk nanotube sheeting


"GSV Three Minds in a Can" <GSV@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
message news:F7FqKJBSn7BDFAd5@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Bitstring <200820051526233513%dmpalmer@xxxxxxxxx>, from
the wonderful
> person David M. Palmer <dmpalmer@xxxxxxxxx> said
> >In article <de69ol$onv$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, James Nicoll
> ><jdnicoll@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> >> I expect a lot of people here will be looking at it in
terms
> >> of orbital towers but I just did a calculation (that is
probably
> >> wrong in some obvious way) that suggests an opaque bit
of this material
> >> could be propelled by solar light at about 1/6th of a
meter per second
> >> squared. If it were reflective, it would be accelerated
at a 1/3rd of a
> >> meter per second squared.
> >
> >
> >That's what I get too. 0.144 m/s^2. Or 6.7 AU/month^2
(although it
> >drops off appreciably by the time you're a fraction of an
AU farther
> >from the Sun, so you don't get to Pluto in a hundred
days. Still
> >useful for zipping around the inner system.)
>
> But if you chuck yourself =at= the sun, and deploy your
light sail a bit
> closer in (somewhere around orbit of Mercury?) maybe you
could get to
> Pluto in 100 days. Of course, the meat might have spoiled
on the way ...

What are y'all talking about--are you saying it doesn't
depend on how much payload you carry? Are y'all saying you
have to pack really light or leave your extra pair of
underwear behind? I have to agree with Tina, but only
because I think these applications are totally useless--for
lightsails it will never be fast enough for any practical
use. Ya really think we will go to the stars with these?
Ditto for Orbital towers--too costly, too low a
population accomodation, and too dangerous for many reasons.

Now new kinds of electronic paper, viewscreens, etc etc
That's dynamite. May be plenty of applications in dome, and
other, construction, and plenty in solar power use. That's
good enough to make it a winner I think. Just my opinion.
....tonyC

> --
> GSV Three Minds in a Can
> Contact recommends the use of Firefox; SC recommends it at
gunpoint.


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