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Solar Sail
- 158 statements
- 29 feature instances
- 28 referencing feature instances
| Solar Sail | type |
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| Solar Sail | label |
Solar Sail | |
| Solar Sail | page |
SolarSail | |
| Solar Sail | comment |
So you've got your nice big spaceship, but you have one big problem — fuel. It's heavy and runs out real quick. The solution? Build a paper-thin mirrored sail a hundred kilometers across, and hang it in front of your ship — the pressure of light from stars will slowly propel your ship outwards. As you get closer to a star, you get more thrust, and as you get further away, the thrust drops off according to the inverse-square law. Using the thrust to move directly away from the sun is rarely the goal, since the acceleration is low and continuous and doesn't usually equal the sun's gravity. Like a sailing ship, which uses the contrary force vectors of the water and the wind to choose its direction, a solar sail ship uses the contrary vectors of the sun's gravity (always in) and the sun's light (straight out). A sail ship angles relative to the sun to either increase or decrease its tangential orbital velocity, and therefore the radius of its orbit. In some cases, a solar sail might be used to "hang" a ship or satellite over a star in a place orbital mechanics don't allow (see: Dyson Sphere), but in this case it's more of a solar parachute. Unlike a sailing ship at the waters, however, a solar sail cannot "tack" into the solar wind. Tacking requires a keel submerged in a medium with much greater drag (e.g. water), which a solar sailing vessel lacks. It is possible to lower one's orbit using a solar sail, by angling the sail to deflect the sun's rays forwards, decelerating the spacecraft and causing it to fall in closer to the sun; traditional watercraft-style tacking is out, however. A close cousin is the electromagnetic sail, any of several similar systems that use a huge conductor or set of conductors (like kilometers of superconducting wire or a cloud of ionized gas) and an electromagnetic field to steal kinetic energy from passing solar wind, the corona of charged particles constantly streaming from a star. While the reflected sunlight used by a reflective solar sail provides orders of magnitude more push per surface area in the inner parts of a solar system, the working area of an electromagnetic sail is a "virtual sail" of electromagnetic force generated by a comparatively minuscule amount of material, and the average energy density of solar wind remains fairly potent far into the outreaches of a solar system. The net result is that these systems make up for the lower inner-system energy density by sheer size and operating range, while still being far lighter than a reflective solar sail, at the cost of requiring input energy, and the invisible "sail" being less visually interesting. An additional advantage for these systems, or hybrid systems mixing electromagnetic and solar sails, is that tacking and breaking are possible through a rare case of reversing the polarity actually being meaningful- because manipulating the orientation and strength of the field alters the direction and intensity of force between interacting electromagnetic fields, a keel's opposing drag can be replicated via secondary sails or "kite-tail"-type structures tuned to work at angles or opposition to the primary sail(s). For interstellar voyages, the ship is usually propelled by a giant laser cannon in space shooting at the sail. Real-life solar sailing is limited to attitude and rotational control, but it has still advanced by quite a lot despite the technology's infancy — Japan has already sent a solar sailing spacecraft on a Venus flyby trajectory in 2010, and other agencies and groups are planning to launch solar sails for purposes other than to test the sail itself. Common in hard science fiction, or as Technobabble for Space Sailing starships. Examples |
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| Solar Sail | fetched |
2023-11-17T23:30:08Z | |
| Solar Sail | parsed |
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| Solar Sail | processingComment |
Dropped link to ColonyDrop: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
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Dropped link to DysonSphere: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Solar Sail | processingComment |
Dropped link to GameMod: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Solar Sail | processingComment |
Dropped link to IcarusAllusion: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Solar Sail | processingComment |
Dropped link to TheReveal: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Solar Sail | processingComment |
Dropped link to TropeMakers: Not an Item - IGNORE | |
| Solar Sail | isPartOf |
DBTropes | |
| Solar Sail / int_1566c87d | type |
Solar Sail | |
| Solar Sail / int_1566c87d | comment |
The Big Eyes, Small Mouth sourcebook Centauri Knights uses beam-assisted magsail ships as the only means of travel between Alpha Centauri and the Sol system. They travel at a significant fraction of light speed, but the trip still takes seven years. | |
| Solar Sail / int_1566c87d | featureApplicability |
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| Solar Sail / int_1566c87d | featureConfidence |
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| Big Eyes, Small Mouth (Tabletop Game) | hasFeature |
Solar Sail / int_1566c87d | |
| Solar Sail / int_1ff419c5 | type |
Solar Sail | |
| Solar Sail / int_1ff419c5 | comment |
In Kingdom Hearts II, the second visit to the Space Paranoids world has the party take the Solar Sailer from TRON to the MCP's location for the final battle with it. | |
| Solar Sail / int_1ff419c5 | featureApplicability |
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| Solar Sail / int_1ff419c5 | featureConfidence |
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| Kingdom Hearts II (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Solar Sail / int_1ff419c5 | |
| Solar Sail / int_2b6c0401 | type |
Solar Sail | |
| Solar Sail / int_2b6c0401 | comment |
The titular ship deploys one to recharge near the start of Alien: Covenant, working more like solar panels than this trope. | |
| Solar Sail / int_2b6c0401 | featureApplicability |
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| Solar Sail / int_2b6c0401 | featureConfidence |
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| Alien: Covenant | hasFeature |
Solar Sail / int_2b6c0401 | |
| Solar Sail / int_3cb580c | type |
Solar Sail | |
| Solar Sail / int_3cb580c | comment |
Starting in Space Empires IV, you can place solar sails on your ships for bonus movement. They still work even if there isn't an actual star in the system, though. | |
| Solar Sail / int_3cb580c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Solar Sail / int_3cb580c | featureConfidence |
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| Space Empires (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Solar Sail / int_3cb580c | |
| Solar Sail / int_558b4c84 | type |
Solar Sail | |
| Solar Sail / int_558b4c84 | comment |
Guardians of the Galaxy character Starhawk has these built into his spandex super-suit, one set one his back and a matching set on his head — which is impractical and unlikely, but... | |
| Solar Sail / int_558b4c84 | featureApplicability |
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| Solar Sail / int_558b4c84 | featureConfidence |
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| Guardians of the Galaxy (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Solar Sail / int_558b4c84 | |
| Solar Sail / int_5c897f4a | type |
Solar Sail | |
| Solar Sail / int_5c897f4a | comment |
Schlock Mercenary: The Gatekeepers use "solar sail material" to make Dyson Spheres, their word for which translates to "this was expensive to buil.". In one arc, the crew encounter a small STL starship with a solar sail that "you could giftwrap planets with". |
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| Solar Sail / int_5c897f4a | featureApplicability |
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| Schlock Mercenary (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Solar Sail / int_5c897f4a | |
| Solar Sail / int_6d5d0e13 | type |
Solar Sail | |
| Solar Sail / int_6d5d0e13 | comment |
Jim Hawkins' sailboard and the RLS Legacy from Treasure Planet are referred to as solar sails, but they have little in common with actual solar sails — here, they're seen as being pushed by "solar winds" much like sailing ships on oceans use planetary winds. | |
| Solar Sail / int_6d5d0e13 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Solar Sail / int_6d5d0e13 | featureConfidence |
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| Treasure Planet | hasFeature |
Solar Sail / int_6d5d0e13 | |
| Solar Sail / int_73d7930f | type |
Solar Sail | |
| Solar Sail / int_73d7930f | comment |
The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Explorers" has Captain Sisko recreate an ancient Bajoran spacecraft with solar sails. It supposedly made it all the way to a neighboring star system, though some characters doubt the voyage could be achieved at sublight speeds. It turns out that the sails can also catch tachyons in order to achieve Faster-Than-Light Travel. | |
| Solar Sail / int_73d7930f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Solar Sail / int_73d7930f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Star Trek: Deep Space Nine | hasFeature |
Solar Sail / int_73d7930f | |
| Solar Sail / int_79c43540 | type |
Solar Sail | |
| Solar Sail / int_79c43540 | comment |
The titular ship in Seedship uses one. | |
| Solar Sail / int_79c43540 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Solar Sail / int_79c43540 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Seedship (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Solar Sail / int_79c43540 | |
| Solar Sail / int_7af252ef | type |
Solar Sail | |
| Solar Sail / int_7af252ef | comment |
For All Mankind: In Season 3, the Sojourner-1 Mars mission has a solar sail. | |
| Solar Sail / int_7af252ef | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Solar Sail / int_7af252ef | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| For All Mankind | hasFeature |
Solar Sail / int_7af252ef | |
| Solar Sail / int_7b039953 | type |
Solar Sail | |
| Solar Sail / int_7b039953 | comment |
The Venture Star in Avatar uses a solar sail to accelerate to its destination several lightyears away. A laser in the Sol System provides thrust for the sail to get up to 70% lightspeed. However, the ship uses an antimatter rocket to slow down when it reaches Alpha Centauri. The reverse is true on return trip: accelerating away from Alpha Centauri with antimatter rocket and slow down to Sol with laser. | |
| Solar Sail / int_7b039953 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Solar Sail / int_7b039953 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Avatar | hasFeature |
Solar Sail / int_7b039953 | |
| Solar Sail / int_7de8951a | type |
Solar Sail | |
| Solar Sail / int_7de8951a | comment |
An optional technology in Traveller, but usually too slow to be worth it except for sport. | |
| Solar Sail / int_7de8951a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Solar Sail / int_7de8951a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Traveller (Tabletop Game) | hasFeature |
Solar Sail / int_7de8951a | |
| Solar Sail / int_847a1ace | type |
Solar Sail | |
| Solar Sail / int_847a1ace | comment |
In Attack of the Clones, Count Dooku uses a ship equipped with a (unrealistically small) solar sail to escape from a battle. | |
| Solar Sail / int_847a1ace | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Solar Sail / int_847a1ace | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Attack of the Clones | hasFeature |
Solar Sail / int_847a1ace | |
| Solar Sail / int_86a3b5e1 | type |
Solar Sail | |
| Solar Sail / int_86a3b5e1 | comment |
The Mobile Suit Gundam SEED CE.73: Stargazer ONA has the "Stargazer" Gundam. It uses a Voiture Lumiere system as a magnetic sail. It is meant to be an unmanned probe controlled by a rudimentary AI for extrasolar exploration, though it can carry a couple of passengers/pilots if necessary. It also takes the Gundam about a month to make it from Venus to Earth using just the Sun's output for thrust (it rode a giant particle beam to get out to Venus in the space of a couple of minutes). | |
| Solar Sail / int_86a3b5e1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Solar Sail / int_86a3b5e1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Mobile Suit Gundam SEED CE.73: Stargazer | hasFeature |
Solar Sail / int_86a3b5e1 | |
| Solar Sail / int_8a62fa86 | type |
Solar Sail | |
| Solar Sail / int_8a62fa86 | comment |
The Back to the Future episode "Solar Sailors" is mostly set on an interplanetary cruise ship powered by a solar sail. | |
| Solar Sail / int_8a62fa86 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Solar Sail / int_8a62fa86 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Back to the Future | hasFeature |
Solar Sail / int_8a62fa86 | |
| Solar Sail / int_90e2f673 | type |
Solar Sail | |
| Solar Sail / int_90e2f673 | comment |
In BattleTech, Jumpships and Warships use jump sails to recharge their jump drives. The sails take a long time to set up and it takes a week to fully recharge the drives. It's worth noting that in this case the sails only act as basically giant flexible solar panels; any actual sublight propulsion worth mentioning is done via fusion rocket, it's just that the average Jumpship is essentially just a single FTL drive core with some station-keeping engines and quarters for the crew as an afterthought. | |
| Solar Sail / int_90e2f673 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Solar Sail / int_90e2f673 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| BattleTech (Tabletop Game) | hasFeature |
Solar Sail / int_90e2f673 | |
| Solar Sail / int_a6ece007 | type |
Solar Sail | |
| Solar Sail / int_a6ece007 | comment |
In Battlefleet Gothic, Eldar Craftworld and Corsair starships are propelled by large solar sails. In game this is represented by Eldar ships having three movement speeds representing whether they are moving towards, away from or parallel to the sun, meaning that they have to tack like a sailing ship to get the best speed across the battlefield. | |
| Solar Sail / int_a6ece007 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Solar Sail / int_a6ece007 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Battlefleet Gothic (Tabletop Game) | hasFeature |
Solar Sail / int_a6ece007 | |
| Solar Sail / int_b3710357 | type |
Solar Sail | |
| Solar Sail / int_b3710357 | comment |
In TRON, a simulated vehicle called a Solar Sailer is stolen by two of the movie's protagonists to make a hasty exit from the facility where it just happens to have been under construction. To avert the need for steering, a Solar Sailer's path follows the path of whatever data beam it rides on. A much larger version is used in TRON: Legacy for bulk transport of abducted programs. | |
| Solar Sail / int_b3710357 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Solar Sail / int_b3710357 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| TRON | hasFeature |
Solar Sail / int_b3710357 | |
| Solar Sail / int_b3c9e076 | type |
Solar Sail | |
| Solar Sail / int_b3c9e076 | comment |
The pod people from Invasion of the Body Snatchers are Starfish Aliens that are propelled interstellar distances by solar winds. | |
| Solar Sail / int_b3c9e076 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Solar Sail / int_b3c9e076 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Invasion of the Body Snatchers | hasFeature |
Solar Sail / int_b3c9e076 | |
| Solar Sail / int_bd6d0fd | type |
Solar Sail | |
| Solar Sail / int_bd6d0fd | comment |
In Road to Mars, the multinational crew of the Ares receives orders from Mission Control to beat the Chinese Millennium Boat in a race to be the first humans on the red planet. The Captain of the Ares has the crew adjust the course to get dangerously close to the Sun in order to shave off a few hours and orders the crew into the living pod in order to shield everyone from increased heat and radiation. Just then, he gets a message from Mission Control, letting him know that there is a secret container aboard the craft, containing an experimental solar sail (the knowledge was kept secret in order to allow the company to file a patent on the new lightweight material). He is also told that a solar flare is about to occur just as they're passing the Sun. This will not only allow the sail to unfurl and give them the needed boost to beat the Chinese, but the magnetic field will also shield the craft from radiation, allowing the crew to go EVA to set up the sail (unfortunately, a tool failure results in one of the crew members receiving a lethal dose of radiation). | |
| Solar Sail / int_bd6d0fd | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Solar Sail / int_bd6d0fd | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Road to Mars | hasFeature |
Solar Sail / int_bd6d0fd | |
| Solar Sail / int_ccb4e9fc | type |
Solar Sail | |
| Solar Sail / int_ccb4e9fc | comment |
The Rocheworld series features solar sails heavily. They are used for cargo vessels in the solar system, and the interstellar ship sent to the Barnard system uses a solar sail propelled by a laser on Mercury. | |
| Solar Sail / int_ccb4e9fc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Solar Sail / int_ccb4e9fc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Rocheworld | hasFeature |
Solar Sail / int_ccb4e9fc | |
| Solar Sail / int_d4642985 | type |
Solar Sail | |
| Solar Sail / int_d4642985 | comment |
Solar sails are used as weapons in the Revelation Space Series — a monolayer solar sail does wonders at killing the starships flying at 90% the speed of light. In an interstellar chase, a sail is released behind the ship being pursued, and a powerful laser pushes the sail back towards the pursuer; with the speed difference between the two objects, contact would result in instantaneous destruction. | |
| Solar Sail / int_d4642985 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Solar Sail / int_d4642985 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Revelation Space Series | hasFeature |
Solar Sail / int_d4642985 | |
| Solar Sail / int_d78e771e | type |
Solar Sail | |
| Solar Sail / int_d78e771e | comment |
The arrival of an alien solar sail vessel in a human colonized system in The Mote in God's Eye starts off the plot — although this one was the variation that is initially accelerated by a planet-based laser emitter. | |
| Solar Sail / int_d78e771e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Solar Sail / int_d78e771e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Mote in God's Eye | hasFeature |
Solar Sail / int_d78e771e | |
| Solar Sail / int_d9919dda | type |
Solar Sail | |
| Solar Sail / int_d9919dda | comment |
The Martians in Last and First Men, being creatures whose bodies are composed of trillions of nanoscopic (not microscopic) viruses that communicate on a central nervous system of radiation, are able to conform their bodies into thin solid sheets that can traverse interplanetary distances. This is how they reach an Earth inhabited by the Second Men to begin their crusade to 'liberate' terrestrial diamonds which they believe are being handled sacrilegiously by the planet's dominate species, which the Martians also mistakenly think are the humans' radio devices. | |
| Solar Sail / int_d9919dda | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Solar Sail / int_d9919dda | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Last and First Men | hasFeature |
Solar Sail / int_d9919dda | |
| Solar Sail / int_da242be4 | type |
Solar Sail | |
| Solar Sail / int_da242be4 | comment |
The Odette II, the yacht club's training vessel (and a former pirate ship), in Bodacious Space Pirates. | |
| Solar Sail / int_da242be4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Solar Sail / int_da242be4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Bodacious Space Pirates | hasFeature |
Solar Sail / int_da242be4 | |
| Solar Sail / int_e235270c | type |
Solar Sail | |
| Solar Sail / int_e235270c | comment |
A random event in Stellaris has you discovering a derelict solar sail ship. Sadly, you can't reverse-engineer the tech to use it yourself, but you do get some bonus engineering research off of it. | |
| Solar Sail / int_e235270c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Solar Sail / int_e235270c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Stellaris (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Solar Sail / int_e235270c | |
| Solar Sail / int_eeaaec28 | type |
Solar Sail | |
| Solar Sail / int_eeaaec28 | comment |
Martian Successor Nadesico uses this brilliantly. To lure out a hidden Jovian weapon that's been attacking them, Yurika shuts off the Nadesico and has the Aestivalises hooked up to solar sails to keep them powered up, making it akin to fishing. Once the weapon is finally revealed, everything's reactivated and the crew forces it to escape. | |
| Solar Sail / int_eeaaec28 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Solar Sail / int_eeaaec28 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Martian Successor Nadesico | hasFeature |
Solar Sail / int_eeaaec28 | |
| Solar Sail / int_f6cd341d | type |
Solar Sail | |
| Solar Sail / int_f6cd341d | comment |
Treasure Planet: Battle at Procyon: Most of the ships are powered by solar sails, with the exception being the Ironclads, which are powered by dark matter. The sails on ships that have them can be targetted to cripple the ship's mobility. Ships with sails will also lose power if the ship moves into a Nebula, as it obstructs light from nearby stars. | |
| Solar Sail / int_f6cd341d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Solar Sail / int_f6cd341d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Treasure Planet: Battle at Procyon (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Solar Sail / int_f6cd341d | |
| Solar Sail / int_fe5b0fe | type |
Solar Sail | |
| Solar Sail / int_fe5b0fe | comment |
Jovian Chronicles has solar sail and mag-sail craft as the primary bulk cargo carriers. The trade fleets operate from Mercury, because its central location next to the sun makes it a convenient stopping point. Solar sails are used in the inner systems, but only magsails are practical to reach the Jovian colonies and the asteroid belt. Past that, the solar wind is so diffuse that the Jupiter to Saturn trade relies on fusion-powered ships — fortunately, there are big sources of hydrogen at both ends of that run. | |
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| Solar Sail / int_fe5b0fe | featureConfidence |
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| Jovian Chronicles (Tabletop Game) | hasFeature |
Solar Sail / int_fe5b0fe |
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