Hoop sails: an interstellar possibility?
What are hoop sails, and — assuming we get the physics right — how could these curious devices help spacecraft travel the stars? When engineer Carl Wiley brought solar sails to a wide audience in 1951, he envisioned a particular kind of sail. Wiley, who wrote under the byline Russell Saunders, published “Clipper Ships of…
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Paul GIlster - Centauri Dreams
