On Sun, 03 Sep 2000 14:01:14 -0500, Chris Huff wrote...
> > shouldn't iy have like a laser beam pushing it along? - there was a 
> > cartoon i saw years ago with this..
> 
> Solar sails are supposed to operate by using the solar wind, no laser is 
> needed, and you would need an extremely powerful laser to have any 
> effect anyway. I have read about another laser propulsion technology 
> being developed, it uses a very powerful ground laser and a disk-shaped 
> projectile. However, it relies on an atmosphere, and would be pretty 
> much useless in space.

That would be the imaginatively named 'Light Craft'.

Discovery occasionally shows it on various documentaries (at least it 
does in the UK).

Bye for now,
     Jamie.

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