Matloff and Joseph Meany conceptualize a large solar sail made of aerographite which would only use the Sun to power a long term interstellar mission. It is based on an inflatable, hollow-body sail. This is updating concepts that goes back at least to the 1980s. Matloff and Meany set up an aerographite-graphene variant using a 90% absorptive and 10% reflective layer of aerographite that effectively pushes against the Sun-facing surface of graphene.
The radius of the sail is 764 kilometers, with the sail massing 5490 tons. The as yet unpublished paper has the payload mass 25600 tons. This is a much larger hollow-body sail than one made only of graphene. Matloff chose the mission to pass within 0.1 AU in order to hold down the g forces for the human crew.
An interstellar spaceship ark could carry a crew of hundreds to Alpha Centauri in about 1375 years. This is obviously a long time but the thought experiment is that with less than 5500 tons of new Aerographite material which has been made in some small quantities and just using the Sun the mission is possible.
If we could develop the life support systems and space habitats to enable sustainable independent living in space for hundreds then a series of colonies could be distributed around the solar system and beyond the solar system.
Nuclear energy would be needed for the sustainable colony because going far from the Sun would mean no usable solar power. Super green houses would be needed. A rotating habitat would be used.
If we expanded throughout the solar system and created an economy over 100 times larger than today, then the production of billions of tons of solar sails and space habitats would be viable. The world economy has grown by over 100 times from 1870 to today.
In this situation, I would envision hundreds of thousands of long duration space bases made every year to spread out around and from the solar system.
Aerographite is a synthetic carbon-based foam with a density of 0.18 kg per cuic meter. It is 15 000 times more lightweight than aluminum. It is a versatile material for highly efficient propulsion with sunlight. Release of an aerographite hollow sphere, whose shell is 1 micron thick, at 0.04 AU (the closest approach of the Parker Solar Probe) results in an escape speed of nearly 6900 km per second and 185 yr of travel to the distance of our nearest star, Proxima Centauri.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.
