In article <39B3DBF0.17181376@istar.ca>, sde### [at] istarca wrote:

> Is it the total size that important, or the hull:sail ratio?

I think it is neither of those, but sail:mass ratio. You need a lot of 
sail to accelerate a kilo of mass at a reasonable speed. This might be 
useful for computer-controlled shipments between the inner planets, 
Mercury and Venus, possibly Earth, where it doesn't matter if it takes 
several years to travel, and cost is the primary problem. For the 
planets further out, I doubt it would be useful even for those uses. 
Besides, ships in the outer planets region have plenty of hydrogen fuel 
for fusion drives available...just make a close pass to Jupiter or 
Titan, and scoop up some of the atmosphere on your way by.

-- 
Christopher James Huff
Personal: chr### [at] maccom, http://homepage.mac.com/chrishuff/
TAG: chr### [at] tagpovrayorg, http://tag.povray.org/

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