Re:Dead Tech from NASA? (Score 1)

Downside is, you have to carry a power source. Upside is, with the weight saved in changing from a lightsail to a magsail, this should be negligible. Use a nuclear-thermal battery like in Cassini (about 72 pounds), fire that probe on a close gravity slingshot around the sun, and as it comes around the direction you're aiming for, unfurl the magsail, power that puppy up, and you're *gone*

A good idea, but it won't happen. NASA probably won't be launching any more nuclear-powered probes anytime soon. Remember, when Cassini was launched, there was a significant public outcry over its nuclear power supply. The public doesn't like the possibility of an explosion during lauch, sending radioactive shards over half the continent. Even if it isn't likely, the public will raise a bigger stink over it if NASA tries it again.

If you don't think that's very likely, there's been a lot of opposition in St. Louis recently when a plan to ship spent nuclear fuel (i.e., radioactive waste) through the area was proposed. Even with that, although no accident with such a system had ever occured, the public still got the politicians to block it. Something similar would happen if NASA launched another nuclear probe.

But if you could find a more innocuous power source, that magsail could work.