A surprising article from The Economist magazine--thought I'd share it.
colin.
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"SOLAR SAILING: Bored billionaires should aim for the stars"
(c) The Economist, February 6th 1993
used without permission.
Very rich people spend their money in strange ways. Many of them are happy
to lash out a few million dollars, or even a fair bit more, on racing new-
fangled versions of old-fashioned boats. In doing so, they hark back to an
age of commerce won from the salt-breath of the sea, of man pitted against
the elements and his fellow man. They seem to think they get value for
money. Today yacht racing is as popular as it was in the era of the clipper.
but if the super-rich really yearn for greatness, they should have their
hearts set on the dreams of the next century rather than the last.
Around the world, there are various designs for odd, unseaworthy craft made
mostly of plastic film and aluminum. They are almost too fragile to look at.
But in orbit, they could be the new clippers. Solar sails can speed space
ships on their way by reflecting the light of the sun--an idea as bewitching,
clean and sweet as the line of the fairest schooner. Solar sailing ships
could eventually become the clippers of space, carrying cargoes from world
to world. And they could be raced. Indeed, that is what the first solar sails
are designed to do (see page 87).
Calling the captain
Such a race might help redress one of the great ironies of technological his-
tory. Space flight--a dream inspiring enough to tough the hearts of even those
who scorn the most romantic notions--has been entrusted to vast, soulless
bureaucracies. These agencies contain some valiant dreamers; but, as in all
bureaucracies, they are vastly out numbered by time-servers and Bugginses, whose
greatest achievement has been to make mankind's greatest achievement look dull.
If you want the opposite of dull bureaucrats, the best types to look for are
those who are making money in an entrepreneurial way--or sitting on stacks of
money from their fathers' exploits. Not all rich people are devil-may-care
adventurers. But some are, and some of them race yachts or fly hot-air balloons.
Now they have the chance to fly their own spacecraft. Orbital regattas would
allow them to to compete with the newest of technologies in the grandest of
arenas. Although this would be pricey--a first-generation solar-sail racer will
cost about $5m, and perhaps twice as much to launch--it is not out of the price
range affordable by many run-of-the-mill plutocrats, let alone the world's 200
or so billionaires.
It must be admitted that unmanned solar sails controlled from earth do not offer
quite the visceral thrills of salt spray and a fresh wind on the open sea, but
they offer some of the same rewards: a small crew driven toward a single goal.
The racers would stare at computer screens, not portholes--but then so do most
of the people who win many of today's big events, not least the men and women
who design and monitor the boats that compete for the ultimate bauble, the
America's Cup.
Those who do not like frittering their money away can look at space sailing in
a different light. Despite the bureaucrats, the solar system may one day open up
commercial opportunities--asteroid mines for rare metals, perhaps. Those who
know space, who have developed a feel for the needs of a spacecraft's crew and
designer, who have savoured the freedom of free-falling orbits, even if only
vicariously, will be the ones ready to seize that opportunity, or even to forge
it. They will not be quite the first: space has already made a few men rich. And
one of those rich men, who earned his money through satellite broadcasting, is
also one of the world's keenest sailors: a natural to set the race off, and pay
for a good part of it. So which stout hearts and thick wallets will be ready to
compete for the Ted Turner Trophy, first step on the way to the Asteroid's Cup?