Is there an ideal temperature which solar sail material operates at? Does a colder reflective surface create more thrust?
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Russell Borogove
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1I'm pretty sure it depends on the material. If it becomes less reflective at some termperature, that's bad. So long as both sides of it are the same emmissivity then the temperature doesn't otherwise matter. I know some laser sail designs ran the sail just below the softening point of the material (tungsten wire mesh, I think) heated by the fraction of the laser light which was not reflected. – Steve Linton Apr 09 '19 at 20:42