http://www.europlanet-eu.org/nanosat-fleet-proposed-to-300-asteroids/
A fleet of tiny spacecraft could visit over 300 asteroids in just over three years, according to a mission study led by the Finnish Meteorological Institute.
...
E-sails make use of the solar wind – a stream of electrically charged particles emitted from the Sun – to generate efficient propulsion without need for propellant. Thrust is generated by the slow rotation of a tether, attached at one end to a main spacecraft carrying an electron emitter and a high-voltage source and at the other to a small remote unit. The spinning tether completes a rotation in about 50 minutes, tracing out a broad, shallow cone around a centre of mass close to the main spacecraft. By altering its orientation in relation to the solar wind, the nanosat can change thrust and direction.
|
