Some cool Travel images:
Sailing Among the Stars (NASA, Solar Sails, 08/17/10) [Explored]
Image by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center
Editor's Note: This image is an artist concept of a solar sail in space.
This fall, NASA researchers will move one step closer to sailing among the stars. Astrophysicists and engineers at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and the Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., have designed and built NanoSail-D, a "solar sail" that will test NASA's ability to deploy a massive but fragile spacecraft from an extremely compact structure. Much like the wind pushing a sailboat through water, solar sails rely on sunlight to propel vehicles through space. The sail captures constantly streaming solar particles, called photons, with giant sails built from a lightweight material. Over time, the buildup of these particles provides enough thrust for a small spacecraft to travel in space.
Many scientists believe that solar sails have enormous potential. Because they take advantage of sunlight, they don't require the chemical fuel that spacecraft currently rely on for propulsion. Less fuel translates into lower launch weight, lower costs and fewer logistical challenges. Solar sails accelerate slowly but surely, capable of eventually reaching tremendous speeds. In fact, most scientists consider solar sailing the only reasonable way to make interstellar travel a reality.
Of course, it's not as easy as it sounds...
Read entire NASA feature about solar sails:
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/smallsats/10-109.html
Image credit: NASA
There's a Flickr set where you can see more solar sails:
www.flickr.com/photos/28634332@N05/sets/72157607379989937/
Business Travel Panama
Image by thinkpanama
Hub of the Americas - Panama is closer than you think. Several direct flights now fly daily, and private jets are accommodated even at smaller airports. Think Panama!
Traveling man
Image by benoit_d
Gare du Nord, Paris - Dec. 2008
View On Black
Orignal From: Cool Travel images
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