Quote:
Originally Posted by seawasp
The key is that the NET vector force exerted on a dusty plasma sail (or a regular lightsail, for that matter) is a combination of the force from the impinging radiation and the reflected radiation. If you can in effect angle the sail such that the net vector opposes your current orbital vector to a reasonable degree, you can actually reduce your orbital speed, coming "in", or increase it, going "out", and of course do other maneuvers by combining the vectors in various sequences. Poking around, I found a nice little diagram and explanation set over here.
The dusty plasma sail used in Threshold is better at this than a naive interpretation might indicate, too, because the "dust" is, to a large extent, smart dust and each mote can individually orient according to instructions and thus reflect the light more precisely... and can change its configuration to be reflective or absorptive. In the presence of a significant magnetic field (such as Jupiter's magnetosphere) the plasma/magnetosail component also allows maneuvering using the vectors imposed by the intersection of your magnetic field with the external one. |
Got it - thanks!
Is there a third book in the series planned? I'm only half way through "Threshold", but I want to know where the Bemmies came from!
Thanks again for taking the time to reply; it's really great to have authors join us here.