Thread: Novel Lorentz propulsion for interplanetary and interstellar propulsion.
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Old August 24th 11, 06:48 PM posted to sci.space.policy,sci.astro
Rick Jones
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Default Novel Lorentz propulsion for interplanetary and interstellar propulsion.
In sci.space.policy wrote:
On Aug 24, 3:41Â*am, eric gisse wrote:
Getting the probe there is half the challenge. Getting it to talk
back is the other half. I have a difficult time imagining how a
centimeter scale probe could have the power source and physical
antenna size required to send anything to Earth.

They might store power from solar cells for burst transmissions to
the bus that brought them, which then relays to Earth.

What bus? I thought the whole point was to discard the bus and just
accelerate the sugar cube (as it were) to speed. I think I saw one
suggestion that there be something of a "train" of them, acting as
relays for each other. It would be a pretty delicate train though,
with boatloads of cars.

Just how much power can a centimeter sized solar array generate in
inter-anything space? Particularly inter-stellar. How weak a signal
can dishes tease-out from the noise? I am guessing that one would
need some Really Large Dishes to receive the signals from the Really
Small Probe(s).

rick jones
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