An Electric Sail Using Charged Tines: Coulomb Deflection Force and Cruise Acceleration Budgets

This study sizes the system named in its title from stated physical relations and a stated operating basis, and reports the result as SIMULATED, NOT MEASURED. The operating principle is positively charged thin wires deflecting solar-wind ions by electrostatic repulsion. The electric sail craft is a civilian scientific precursor vehicle intended for a fast heliocentric escape trajectory carrying research instruments; it carries no payload other than scientific instruments. Every performance figure is computed by the deposited script from its inputs rather than asserted, and the headline outcomes include total Coulomb-deflection thrust of 0.311 newtons; craft acceleration of 0.7415 millimetres per second squared; electron gun power required to hold tine potential of 5236.3 watts; effective electrostatic sheath radius per tine of 95 metres. Mass, power, time and energy budgets are assembled from components so they can be audited line by line, off-design behaviour is discussed openly, and the limits of the sizing are stated in full. The design is presented as a civilian system throughout, with its governing constraint identified and quantified rather than merely encountered.