In media you’ll occasionally see someone stranded in freefall in space use a gun, or fire extinguisher, or thrown object, or something to try to alter their trajectory. Hell, pop a bottle of champagne and rechristen the ship!
Would this actually work though? I know you don’t have to deal with friction, but would these tiny amounts of thrust be enough to significantly effect a much more massive object?
Will firing a 125 gram 9mm round have a noticeable effect on a 80,000 gram astronaut drifting away from his ship?
It seems hard to believe,but then I’ve heard of stuff like solar sails which can apparently move an entire ship using just photons? So I don’t know.
In: 9
You don’t have any significant friction, popping a champagne cork won’t give you a huge impulse but the velocity you’ll gain will last for thousands of thousands of miles, if you are orbiting at more or less the same speed as the ship popping a champagne bottle could easily provide the energy to get you back. Aiming it, however, would be more of a challenge.
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