Land and Rural Retreats St. Ignatius, Lake County, MT Farms and Ranches For Sale - 355 Acres
The solar wind speed at Earth normally lies around 300km/sec but increases when a coronal hole high speed stream (CH HSS) or coronal mass ejection (CME) arrives. During a coronal mass ejection impact, the solar wind speed can jump suddenly to 500, or even more than 1000km/sec.
In just three years, a solar sail could reach a speed of over 160,000 kilometers per hour (100,000 miles per hour). At that speed you could reach Pluto in less than five years. photon reflecting off the mirror-like surface of a solar sail gives the sail a double kick -- a push equal to twice the photon's momentum (one push from the sail stopping the photon and one from it reflecting the photon and accelerating it away).