Zero Emissions Space Travel Made Possible (Soon) With Electric Solar Wind Sail
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles 
on 04.17.08
An innovative electric solar wind propulsion technology may very well revolutionize transportation -- in space, that is. Yes, though we may still have a ways to go before we achieve a successful (terrestrial) zero emissions vehicular policy, our chances of doing so in space may be closer than you think.
Pekka Janhumen, a researcher at the Finnish Meteorological Institute, and a consortium of European scientists have developed an electric solar wind sail that could fundamentally change space travel as we know it. The sail relies on the solar wind, a continuous plasma stream that emanates from the sun, to act as its principal thrust source by applying continuous pressure to its metallic tethers. A large, solar-powered electron gun keeps the tethers positively charged.
According to Janhumen, the electric sail could make possible the mining of resources from asteroids -- to produce rocket fuel in orbit, for example (but don't hold your breath). It could even be incorporated into large, orbiting solar power satellites that would transmit a continuous stream of solar energy by microwaves to stations on Earth (doesn't that sound a bit like JAXA's SSPS project?) .
Lest you think this is all a big joke, the first international "electric sail meeting" will be held in Noordwijk, The Netherlands on May 19, 2008 at the European Space Agency's (ESA) European Space Research and Technology Center (ESTEC).
Via ::ScienceDaily: Electric Solar Wind Sail Could Power Future Space Travel In Solar System (news website)
See also: ::Going Solar in Space, ::Palau and Pentagon Looking to Harness Solar Energy from Space
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solar sails were conceived of decades ago. From what little I understand about it, the major limitations were that the vessel needs to be launched from space and that the sail needs to be miles in diameter to achieve any sort of significant speed. Oh, and that the vessel can only travel away from the sun.
While solar sail technology is a reasonably well established future propulsion system for a large variety of space probes, I do not see the relevance of "zero emissions". Is anyone seriously concerned about polluting interplanetary, or interstellar space? - Quick, stop the sun, stop the stars, sweep up all comets etc!
Uh, okay. Considering that a spacecraft can emit huge amounts of extremely toxic and radioactive substances without ever harming a single life form (with the possible exception of bacteria and mold living on the spacecraft itself, which the spacecraft could easily do without), I don't see why we should care if this particular spacecraft creates no emissions.
This is a cross between the solar sail and the M2P2 concept NASA explored a while back.
In both cases the basic premise is the same: The 'surface area' that provides the populsive force is magnetic field lines, which don't suffer from encountering micrometeoroids as they travel, which can tatter the material of a true solar sail over time.
This is still an important achievement, and may come in handy for space exploration in general. Liquid fuels have got some limitations: you cant accelerate indefinitely to achieve higher speeds, and this may allow it (at least for as long as there is any significant sunlight). However, any attempts to return the vessel back to Earth... must be done somehow else, as it can only go from the Sun.