Is it possible to surf a solar flare?
I was rereading The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, the sequel to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and I came across an interesting passage:
Flare riding is one of the most exotic and exhilarating sports in existence, and those who can dare and afford to do it are among the most lionized men in the Galaxy.
. . .
This sport is made possible by the star ship's heat-sink, a mass of some two thousand billion tons and is contained within a black hole mounted in an electromagnetic field situated halfway along the length of the ship. This heat-sink enables the craft to be maneuvered to within a few miles of a yellow sun, there to catch and ride the solar flares that burst out from its surface.
Okay, so I'm calling Douglas Adams out on that one, but then again, nobody ever said that the books are scientifically plausible. I, however, would like to know if it's possible for us humans to do something similar, i.e. "surfing" solar flares, with our current technology or realistic technology that could be developed in the near future, or about 50 years from now.
Can we "surf" the Sun by using some sort of craft (perhaps modeled on a solar sail) to "ride" solar flares, coronal mass ejections, or something similar? If not, what are the major obstacles to doing so.
0 answers
0 comment threads