Solar Sail Johannes Kepler on its way to Jupiter
by Frans Blok
Title
Solar Sail Johannes Kepler on its way to Jupiter
Artist
Frans Blok
Medium
Digital Art - Digital Art
Description
A solar sail uses the radiation pressure of the photons that make up the sunlight to travel through space without needing fuel. In recent years, the concept has been tested on a small scale by NASA, the Planetary Society and the Japanese space agency JAXA.
This image shows what this can lead to in the future. Solar Sail Johannes Kepler, named after the 17th century scientist who first recognized the possibilities, departs from Earth orbit to the moons of Jupiter.
The sail has a wingspan of two kilometers and is made of very thin reflective material. The steering is controlled with smaller triangular sails, still some 45 meters in diameter.
The backbone of the ship is 1,500 meters long and contains room for cargo as well as a residence for crew and passengers, which rotates to generate gravity.
The enormous dimensions can only really be grasped when seeing the three shuttle vessels, the size of the former American space shuttles, at the tail of the ship.
Uploaded
October 20th, 2017
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