(October 4, 2010 at 8:12 am)Dotard Wrote:(October 3, 2010 at 2:31 pm)downbeatplumb Wrote: In the 1980s, Robert Forward proposed two beam-powered propulsion schemes using either lasers or masers to push giant sails to a significant fraction of the speed of light
But no brakes. How do you stop a solar powered sailcraft travelling at a significant fraction of the speed of light? Would you need an equal distance to stop as you need to accellerate?
No absolute eed to slow down. The probe can return large amounts of data just zipping by at near speed of light.