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Scientific workbench

Solar sail force

How much can sunlight deliver?

Solar sail force

How much can sunlight deliver?

Change area, solar distance and reflectivity for an ideal opaque sail at normal incidence.

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F = (1 + R) S₁ A / (r²c)
Illustrative model · not measured data · not to scale

Uses S₁ = 1361 W/m² as a representative solar irradiance at 1 AU, with inverse-square scaling. This is a fixed engineering reference, not live irradiance. Pointing and thermal emission need a separate model.

Research basis: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), 2010 · Greg Kopp, 2011.

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