Oumuamua may be a hydrogen iceberg
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Oumuamua may be a hydrogen iceberg
1–10 of 96 posts
Re: Oumuamua may be a hydrogen iceberg
#2Makes me wonder if you could slingshot around the sun towards relativistic speeds with thermal power. At the very least it could save fuel on the egress, if not the second half.
Can you aerobrake around a star?
Re: Oumuamua may be a hydrogen iceberg
#3This is great sci-fi fodder, imagine if you could land a tiny craft on that thing and then use the hydrogen as fuel without having to haul all that fuel into deep space (very unlikely to be practical but the idea is exciting).
Re: Oumuamua may be a hydrogen iceberg
#4Is there an element or compound in the universe that will remain a gas at 0K? Does everything become solid at that temp?
Re: Oumuamua may be a hydrogen iceberg
#5Is there an element or compound in the universe that will remain a gas at 0K? Does everything become solid at that temp?
Intuitively I would think so since 0K is a motionless state. By definition everything would be solid because nothing would be capable of e.g. filling a given volume, or for that matter, doing any action at all.
But this isn't my field of expertise.
Re: Oumuamua may be a hydrogen iceberg
#6Is there an element or compound in the universe that will remain a gas at 0K? Does everything become solid at that temp?
Re: Oumuamua may be a hydrogen iceberg
#7Makes me wonder if you could slingshot around the sun towards relativistic speeds with thermal power. At the very least it could save fuel on the egress, if not the second half. Can you aerobrake around a star?
> Can you aerobrake around a star?
Not a physicist, but it seems like you should be able to do something similar to aerobraking (not one-to-one since the Sun's "atmosphere" is different from a planet's). Maybe using a solar sail of some sort directed at the right angle?
Re: Oumuamua may be a hydrogen iceberg
#8Makes me wonder if you could slingshot around the sun towards relativistic speeds with thermal power. At the very least it could save fuel on the egress, if not the second half. Can you aerobrake around a star?
> Can you aerobrake around a star? Not a physicist, but it seems like you should be able to do something similar to aerobraking (not one-to-one since the Sun's "atmosphere" is different from a planet's). Maybe using a solar sail of some sort directed at the right angle?
I went on a wiki-binge on this topic a few days ago and so I recognize this as a magsail[0]. It would be an attractive addition to an interstellar craft since it obviates the need to carry propellant for deceleration.
Re: Oumuamua may be a hydrogen iceberg
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Can you aerobrake around a star? Not a physicist, but it seems like you should be able to do something similar to aerobraking (not one-to-one since the Sun's "atmosphere" is different from a planet's). Maybe using a solar sail of some sort directed at the right angle?
I went on a wiki-binge on this topic a few days ago and so I recognize this as a magsail[0]. It would be an attractive addition to an interstellar craft since it obviates the need to carry propellant for deceleration. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_sail
That's really cool. Definitely helpful in order to drop deceleration fuel requirements if we ever manage to put together a relativistic interstellar spacecraft.
Re: Oumuamua may be a hydrogen iceberg
#10Is there an element or compound in the universe that will remain a gas at 0K? Does everything become solid at that temp?
Intuitively I would think so since 0K is a motionless state. By definition everything would be solid because nothing would be capable of e.g. filling a given volume, or for that matter, doing any action at all. But this isn't my field of expertise.
Complete lack of motion would violate Heisenberg uncertainty principle ("no motion" == "I know both momentum and location with zero uncertainty" and that's not allowed)