A huge solar sail designed to demonstrate the viability and value of propellant-free propulsion is slated to blast into space in November 2014, mission officials say.

NASA’s Sunjammer spacecraft — whose 13,000-square-foot (1,208 square meters) sail will allow it to cruise through the heavens like a boat through the ocean — is scheduled to lift off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida’s Cape Canaveral late next year. Sunjammer will be a secondary payload on the Falcon 9, whose main task is launching the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) toward a gravitationally stable location called the Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 1, which lies about 900,000 miles (1.5 million kilometers) from our planet. Sunjammer will likely separate from the Falcon 9 shortly after DSCOVR does. The spacecraft will then deploy its enormous sail, which measures 124 feet (38 m) on a side, and head toward a desired location about 1.8 million miles (3 million km) from Earth, pushed along by photons streaming from the sun.

More – http://weather.yahoo.com/worlds-largest-solar-sail-launch-november-2014-214450113.html

That’s a reasonable size.

Spiny Norman said:

A huge solar sail designed to demonstrate the viability and value of propellant-free propulsion is slated to blast into space in November 2014, mission officials say.

NASA’s Sunjammer spacecraft — whose 13,000-square-foot (1,208 square meters) sail will allow it to cruise through the heavens like a boat through the ocean — is scheduled to lift off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida’s Cape Canaveral late next year. Sunjammer will be a secondary payload on the Falcon 9, whose main task is launching the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) toward a gravitationally stable location called the Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 1, which lies about 900,000 miles (1.5 million kilometers) from our planet. Sunjammer will likely separate from the Falcon 9 shortly after DSCOVR does. The spacecraft will then deploy its enormous sail, which measures 124 feet (38 m) on a side, and head toward a desired location about 1.8 million miles (3 million km) from Earth, pushed along by photons streaming from the sun.

More – http://weather.yahoo.com/worlds-largest-solar-sail-launch-november-2014-214450113.html

That’s a reasonable size.

The downstreaming run is easy, but how long will it take to tack back upstream and return to earth?

Stealth said:

The downstreaming run is easy, but how long will it take to tack back upstream and return to earth?

Have to wait until Talk Like A Space Pirate Day.

How long will it take to get to Mars if it’s towing endangered rhinos through spaaaaaaaaaaaaaace?

I approve

Good name.

From Wikipedia

“Sunjammer” is a science fiction short story by English author Arthur C. Clarke. It was originally published in 1963. It has also been published under the title “The Wind from the Sun” and has been included into Clarke’s 1972 collection of short stories with this title.

Solar sails also get a tiny boost from the solar wind, but the bulk of their power comes from the radiation pressure. According to Wikipedia the “Solar wind, the flux of charged particles blown out from the sun, exerts a nominal dynamic pressure of about 3 to 4 nPa, three orders of magnitude less than solar radiation pressure on a reflective sail.”

PM 2Ring said:

Good name.

From Wikipedia

“Sunjammer” is a science fiction short story by English author Arthur C. Clarke. It was originally published in 1963. It has also been published under the title “The Wind from the Sun” and has been included into Clarke’s 1972 collection of short stories with this title.

Solar sails also get a tiny boost from the solar wind, but the bulk of their power comes from the radiation pressure. According to Wikipedia the “Solar wind, the flux of charged particles blown out from the sun, exerts a nominal dynamic pressure of about 3 to 4 nPa, three orders of magnitude less than solar radiation pressure on a reflective sail.”

nuclear power is the only way to go in my book

you’d be an old man getting anywhere relying on the junk flying off the sun

what the shuttle should have looked like

the shuttle is clear of the tank and any debris, its a little more stable than something bolted onto the side of a tank/rocket

wookiemeister said:

what the shuttle should have looked like

the shuttle is clear of the tank and any debris, its a little more stable than something bolted onto the side of a tank/rocket