Tag Archives: propulsion

Solar Sailing Through The Sea of Space

As an imaginative mind might ask: can we use the Sun’s light to propel a spacecraft through space? Surprisingly, this avenue of spacecraft propulsion has, and is being, explored. Figure 1 displays the Japanese IKAROS satellite that was deployed on May 21, 2010. The spacecraft was equipped with a 14 m x 14 m solar […] Continue reading

Posted in Class | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Solar Sailing Through The Sea of Space

Nuclear Fusion For Rocket Propulsion

Nuclear fusion-where the nuclei of two atoms combine to establish a new atom-serves as the primary process that powers main sequence stars (like our Sun). For stars, nuclear fusion most commonly occurs with two hydrogen atoms fusing to form a helium atom. The result of such fusion processes is the output of great amounts of […] Continue reading

Posted in Class | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Nuclear Fusion For Rocket Propulsion