From: Ross A. Finlayson (RAF@tomco.net)
Date: Tue Apr 20 1999 - 23:10:12 MDT
Spike Jones wrote:
> Ross A. Finlayson wrote: Does shooting a laser from a laser generator
> not generate opposite force of the beam output?
>
> It does.
> If we had nanotech, we could create extraordinarily thin mirrors in
> the
> form of a lightsail, which could reflect sunlight (or laser light) for
> propulsion.
> As for your copyright, sorry Ross. You and I are at least a century
> too
> young to be the first to think of these things. {8^D spike
Oh well. I had noticed that K. Eric Drexler, on a web page, has a list
of patents, and the solar sail is one of them (4,614,319). There are
already solar sails in production. In 1991, for high school debate, we
had a space exploration plan with solar sails.
I guess we are around at the right time for the next century of things.
Considering life extension, we might be around for the century after
that, etcetera.
The most efficient means to power a laser, or, anything, is
matter-to-energy transformation. Again, this is barring
extra-dimensional sources of power.
I've always been very fond of space, it is a romantic ideal, the
so-called "final frontier."
Ross F.
-- Ross Andrew Finlayson 202/387-8208 http://www.tomco.net/~raf/ "C is the speed of light."
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