Sunday, August 29, 2010

Solar Clippers in the 02100s

The "Solar Clippers" were a familiar site throughout the 2100s, but became a niche ship type with the improvements of the antimatter drive during the latter part of the 2190s. 

For those needing to travel between planets of the inner Solar System or
those seeking inexpensive shipping methods but not in a hurry there is
one primary option available during the time period of Solar Ecliptic.
The Tsiolkovsky-Tsander Solar Sail is a proprietary construct of Luna, and has
come into common use by the first decade of the 02100s. These ships use
massive sails made of thin but immensely strong membranes able to
"ride" the sunlight currents of the gentle solar wind. In addition to the
gargantuan sails these ships also consist of a small spaceboat attached
to the larger sails by flex-rigging that look a lot like threads in a spiderweb.
The spaceboats typically contain a small temperature-constant cabin
where the spacer crew can adjust the rigging, enter course corrections, and
monitor the equipment. They do have a fairly high initial construction cost but
are much more economical to operate than traditional torch or fusion vessels.

Ships of Terra as well as the outer planets made use of the currents and flows of the Solar Wind projected from the star at the heart of the Solar System. 

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