The Silver Surfer is a ridiculous concept for a “hero.” He wasn’t even a hero, he was a herald for a gigantic planet-devouring celestial creature named Galactus. What does the Silver Surfer surf on? Why does he even have a surfboard? What planet does he come from that also developed board sports? Maybe it might have made more sense if the Silver Surfer was the Silver Solar Windsurfer? What are solar winds? Here’s more from Centauri Dreams:
In search of ever-higher velocities leaving the Solar System, we need to keep in mind the options offered by the solar wind. This stream of charged plasma particles flowing outward from the Sun carves out the protective bubble of the heliosphere, and in doing so can generate ‘winds’ of more than 500 kilometers per second. Not bad if we’re thinking in terms of harnessing the effect, perhaps by a magnetic sail that can create the field needed to interact with the wind, or an electric sail whose myriad tethers, held taut by rotation, create an electric field that repels protons and produces thrust.
But like the winds that drove the great age of sail on Earth, the solar version is treacherous, as likely to becalm the ship as to cause its sails to billow. It’s a gusty, turbulent medium, one where those velocities of 500 kilometers and more per second can as likely fall well below that figure. Exactly how it produces squalls in the form of coronal mass ejections or calmer flows is a topic under active study, which is where missions like Solar Orbiter come into play. Studying the solar surface to pin down the origin of the wind and the mechanism that drives it is at the heart of the mission.