IKAROS gets first burst of solar propulsion, wants more

Photons, man, it's all about the photons. Japan's solar sail-equipped IKAROS probe has recorded its first propulsion derived from the force of sunlight rays hitting its tender surface. The force generated is a truly minuscule 1.12 millinewtons, but that can go a long way (literally) in a frictionless environment like space. The kite's sails also soak up Sol's emitted light to generate electricity, making the most out of the one resource available to it. So now that we've figured out how to do all that, shall we get started on colonizing Mars or what?

[mrqs Posted Jul 14th 2010 5:43AM]

hope it doesn't fly too close to the sun...

[Barguast Posted Jul 14th 2010 5:46AM]

@mrqs
They should have played it safe and called it Daedalus.

[detonator Posted Jul 14th 2010 8:14AM]

... and then stupid meteor hit the probe in the opposite direction ...

[samisax Posted Jul 14th 2010 12:09PM]

@mrqs

The whole point is that the sun pushes it away.

[simbr Posted Jul 14th 2010 2:54PM]

@samisax
I think you missed the joke there.

[pintolulz Posted Jul 14th 2010 5:45AM]

Man I miss that game. BOOTING UP.

[Post Insanity Posted Jul 14th 2010 6:38AM]

I think I saw this on a James Bond movie once.

[bbqbspareribs Posted Jul 14th 2010 7:12AM]

For a second, I thought they were talking about Ikaruga...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGNSdcy-apU

[ReadyKilowatt Posted Jul 14th 2010 9:15AM]

So in 10,000 years we'll destroy a random planet.

[Ken J Posted Jul 14th 2010 10:12AM]

That's about 2 meters per second gained each day for 100lb mass. Inverse proportions of mass and velocity (twice the mass = half the velocity gained per day). That's pretty good IMO.

[Mikeman33 Posted Jul 14th 2010 11:10AM]

So what's it going to do when it leaves the Solar System, and the sun is too dim for propulsion?

[Brokinarrow Posted Jul 14th 2010 11:15AM]

@Mikeman33 - By that time it will have picked up quite a bit of speed, so with nothing to slow it down it will just keep going at a flat velocity until something starts slowing it down/speeding it up.

[VampireHunterZ Posted Jul 14th 2010 12:57PM]

@Mikeman33
Also, how do you get back if the sun is pushing you away? A ship using this would still need an alternative propulsion.

[Honis Posted Jul 14th 2010 2:09PM]

@VampireHunterZ
They can use the built up speed to slingshot around something, and use the sails to slowly slow them back down before they come back to Earth. But, this tech is not for manned missions. It's best for missions where you can just drop a few probes and data collection equipment, fire it off, wait the extra time for it to get to point B, and then do the probing and data collection. The idea is that it doesn't require fuel to fly around and can be constantly accelerating.

If they wanted to, they could use this to break human device space speed records while only using fuel to get it into space and out of Earth orbit.

[rcartwr Posted Jul 14th 2010 4:39PM]

@VampireHunterZ In sailing its called tacking against the wind. You trim the sails in such a way you zig zag generally in the direction you want to go.

[bartman Posted Jul 23rd 2010 3:02PM]

@rcartwr
True, but tacking in sailboats depend on the friction provided by the water to go in directions other than straight downwind. There would be no friction in space.

[Teerim Posted Jul 14th 2010 12:31PM]

Why do I feel like I'm the only one that is amazed by this creation? Can you say cheap, albeit slow, interstellar travel?

[Only For The Head Strong Posted Jul 14th 2010 12:50PM]

@Teerim Talk of cheap mars missions with small payloads, fuel is a big problem for any interplanetary mission. We are definitely talking long deep space flights with solar sails and ion engines going on for decades to into deep cold space.

[engadgetcomexcludeengadget Posted Jul 14th 2010 3:57PM]

@Teerim Umm, you do realize it would take a over 4 months to get to Mars with nuclear propulsion. Do you know how long it would take with an acceleration of 4.5mi/hr^2 per day? I don't either, but it's not realistic for transport. And if it weighed enough to carry a human and enough food for a year, it would weigh many MANY tons, and make 1.12 millinewtons worthless.

[musicssound Posted Jul 14th 2010 2:23PM]

So this would be something we'd shoot in a capsule at the sun, have it open at 1/8 AU and slowly get pushed off to another star? Sounds cool. This would make a great manned mission if they added in a thruster for emergencies.

[jok Posted Jul 14th 2010 3:19PM]

@musicssound I don't think you have to necessarily fire it at the sun. The figures we're getting are for a solar sail of the Icarus's size being deployed at Earth orbit from the sun (1 a.u.?). I really don't think there would be much benefit in deploying solar sails closer to the sun (ie the energy you spend firing the device closer to the sun might not necessarily be recouped by greater efficiency of the solar sails for the time the device spends closer to the sun that the aforementioned 1 a.u., but that is just a gut instinct, no math involved).

[NEXUS85 Posted Jul 15th 2010 3:42AM]

So we finally get somethin like what the Bajorans had on DS-9 :D

[seeloesix Posted Jul 17th 2010 3:33PM]

This should line up nicely with the ring of junk orbiting earth :)

In all seriousness, pretty cool. progress is progress. this will lead to better more advanced stuff...