XPost: sci.space.moderated   
   From: jsb@at.hal-pc-dot.org   
      
   "Paul F. Dietz" wrote:   
      
   > Jon Berndt wrote:   
   >   
   > > Nowhere is mention made that this particle beam causes any "equal and   
   > > opposite" action at the particle-beam source. If this near-Earth station   
   is   
   > > blasting a particle beam into space that causes a spaceship to   
   accelerate   
   > > (momentum transfer) to "tens of thousands" of mph ... what is the source   
   > > doing to maintain position or orbital velocity? Am I missing something?   
   >   
   > If the transmitter is in orbit around Earth, the net effect would be   
   > to displace the orbit slightly, so that the momentum is transfered   
   > to the planet.   
   >   
   >   Paul   
      
      
   I wonder if the idea is to have complete visibility of the interplanetary   
   probe at all times? This would dictate a polar orbit. Maybe that would work   
   better. Also, for redundancy, perhaps there would be several of the   
   particle-beam generators in orbit about source and destination planets ...   
      
   Jon   
      
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