Monday, November 9, 2015

E-Sails

NASA is looking at a new deep space propulsion system called the e-sail in which miles-long, positively charged wires, half the width of a human hair, interact with the solar wind to push probes to enormous speeds.  E-sails could allow missions to the outer Solar System to be completed in less than a decade.

NASA should know in a year or two whether the system is actually viable.

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