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Since scientists at that time had a very in-depth understanding of electromagnetism, the magnitude of the light pressure was also inferred.

In 1924, Tsiolkovsky and his colleague Zander jointly proposed the feasibility concept of solar sails, describing the idea that humans can use the light pressure of solar sails to provide interstellar flight in the future.

The principle of light pressure is very simple, which is to use the thrust generated by photons hitting objects.

Maybe most people think that this kind of thing is too exaggerated, because when normal people bask in the sun every day, they will not feel hit by photons at all. This is because the area itself is too small, and the quality is relatively large and many other factors. In it, it didn't feel so obvious.

However, as long as the area is large enough, light pressure can be used to fly.

First of all, because the power source of the solar sail comes from the sun, it does not need to carry fuel itself. According to Newton's second law, it can be known that this is very beneficial for the acceleration of the aircraft.

At the same time, the light pressure provided by the sun can also bring a very objective thrust.

According to scientists' calculations, if the area of ​​the solar sail can reach 70,000 square meters, the light pressure will generate a thrust of 0.34 tons.

Although this thrust is not very large, it can continue to provide power for a long time, so it is always in a state of acceleration.

If it is a long-distance interstellar voyage, even nuclear fusion is completely useless, because nuclear fusion is a working medium engine and needs to carry a lot of fuel.

If it is an electric propulsion engine, it needs electric power. If you want to fly long distances, then the battery should be enlarged accordingly.

If you don't need a battery and directly get the nuclear fusion generator on the spacecraft, then maintaining nuclear fusion will also require a lot of fuel, and if it is heavy nuclear fusion, you will need a lot of stones.

So this will gradually increase the mass and weight of the spacecraft, leading to problems similar to rocket launches on Earth.

The larger the volume, the higher the thrust. However, after the volume is large, the mass and weight will also increase. If you calculate it comprehensively, the thrust has not been improved at all.

The same is true for substituting this into the spacecraft. If the thrust of the spacecraft is insufficient and the acceleration cannot be continuously provided by the energy source, I am afraid that it will be pulled back by the gravity of the solar system before it can fly out of the solar system.

Therefore, after the concept of solar sail was proposed at that time, it also aroused the thinking of many physicists and aerospace experts, because it is equivalent to a "no working medium" engine.

If the probe carried by the solar sail is 500 kilograms, then with the help of light pressure, it can reach Mars in 200 days, which is basically the same speed as the current speed.

If the area of ​​the solar sail reaches 3 square kilometers, then the thrust will reach 1.5 tons, and there is no problem in flying out of the solar system.

If it was an ordinary person, scientists would probably be scolding the mother for saying this, because it sounds like complete nonsense.

It's just that there is nothing impossible at all, because space is a high vacuum environment, and even if the area is large, there is no air resistance.

Unlike fighter jets in the earth's atmosphere, or rockets, they all have to do things in line with aerodynamics.

However, there is no resistance in space, so it can do strange things. Even a hedgehog ball can fly very fast as long as it has enough speed.

And two hundred years ago, when the steam locomotive first came out, it is estimated that people at that time did not expect that horse-drawn carriages would be eliminated, nor did they expect that the world today is full of cars.

Therefore, the development of science and technology will make everything that seems impossible possible, even with this kind of technology.

Of course, if there is a scientist who claims to be able to make Thanos' gloves, and to kill half of the universe with a snap of his fingers, then this is not a scientist, but a magician.

Therefore, with the development of human technology, it is only a matter of time before an aircraft of this scale can be achieved.

Just to see if you want to make it or not.

Of course, since the current rocket space is very limited, and it is impossible for the solar sail to be installed in an area of ​​tens of thousands or even hundreds of square meters, if you want to launch the solar sail into space, you must fold it. Get up and expand after lift-off.

After being fully deployed in space, the solar sail will absorb the light pressure of sunlight to the greatest extent with a wide area, and achieve continuous acceleration.

Of course, if it is too far from the sun, the received solar radiation will also decrease accordingly, so the theory at the time was to place the relevant engine behind the solar sail to provide further acceleration.

If the solar sail is large enough, it would take only five years to fly from Earth to Pluto, or even 20 years to fly to Proxima Centauri.

Because there is no resistance in space, only the gravitational force between celestial bodies, and the increase of its speed cannot be measured by the laws of physics on the ground.

Therefore, whether it is long-distance voyage or ultra-long-distance voyage, solar sails are currently the most promising next-generation space power devices to help mankind achieve breakthroughs and rush out of the solar system.

Today's scientists are also experimenting with the possibility of solar sails.

The Planetary Society of America is the world's largest non-profit space research team composed of renowned astronomer and science writer Carl Sagan.

They have long been committed to promoting the advancement of human space exploration technology in various forms, so they are not far behind in terms of solar sails, and conducted the first solar sail test in 2015.

Later, in June 2019, their LightSail 2 launched and successfully deployed the polyester canvas on July 23.

Due to limited funding and technical reasons, their solar sails are about 5 meters long, which is 25 square meters, but the thickness of their light sails is even less than one-tenth of a human hair.

On July 31, they used the light pressure received by LightSail 2 to convert into power, and successfully raised the orbit of LightSail 2 by 125 miles. Although the change was not very big, it also proved that the solar sail feasibility.

Later, the domestic research team of Huaxia also began to carry out related research on solar sails. The research on "Tianfan No. 1" of the Shenyang Institute of Automation has been launched before, and it has been reported in the news.

Both domestic and foreign light sails are made of polyimide resin, because this material can be made very thin, with a thickness of only 7.5 microns, which is equivalent to about one-tenth of the diameter of a hair.