NASA E-Sail Technology Testing Begins

Testing on a potential revolutionary propulsion system has begun at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center located in Huntsville, Alabama. This concept could send a spacecraft to the edge of our solar system faster than anything in existence.

Results from the test will provide the Heliopause Electrostatic Rapid Transit System (HERTS) modeling data. The HERTS E-Sail concept would harness solar wind, as a boat sail harnesses wind, to travel into interstellar space, according to a feature from the Energy Matters. 

"The sun releases protons and electrons into the solar wind at very high speeds -- 400 to 750 kilometers per second," said Bruce Wiegmann, the principal investigator of the HERTS E-Sail and an engineer in Marshall's Advanced Concepts Office.

"The E-Sail would use these protons to propel the spacecraft," he added.

The sail effective area would have to be large to make it possible to send a scientific probe on a journey into deep space. At 1 AU (astronomical units, the distance of Earth from the Sun), the E-sail would have about 232 square miles effective area, slightly smaller than Chicago. At 5 AU, the effective area would increase to about 463 square miles, roughly the same size as Los Angeles.

With their investigation, Wiegmann stated that they have discovered that a probe propelled by the E-Sail could travel to the edge of the solar system, or the heliopause, in under 10 years. 

Wiegmann also said that the flexibility and adaptability of the design became clear as his team studied the concept. He also added the the E-Sail is scalable.

Steering the spacecraft can be done by individually modulating the wire's voltage as the craft rotates. Engineers could obtain the ability to steer the craft similar to a boat with affecting a difference in force that is applied on different parts of the E-Sail, according to a feature by the Next Big Future.