LightSail
How Could Laser-Driven Lightsails Remain Stable?
How can we send spacecraft to other star systems? One proposed by Breakthrough Foundation is the Starshot, which uses high-powered…
Sending a Spacecraft to Another Star Will Require a Million Lasers Working Together
New research from the Australia National University shows that millions of lasers are the way to propel Breakthrough Starshot on…
Want the Fastest Solar Sail? Drop it Into the Sun First
A new study from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy shows how a "Sun Diver," a light sail that dives…
What’s the Best Way to Communicate With an Interstellar Probe When it’s Light-Years Away From Earth?
A new study by an international team of scientists addressed a major challenge with interstellar missions: how to send and…
How Will we Receive Signals From Interstellar Probes, Like Starshot?
A new study takes a look at the challenges of sending and receiving data over interstellar distances using tight-beam lasers
One Step Closer to Interstellar Travel. A Successful Microgravity Test of a Graphene Light Sail
If we want to travel to the stars, we're going to have to be creative. The answer might be light…
LightSail 2 Mission is Going Strong and Sending Mission Info Home!
The Planetary Society recently launched its LightSail 2 technology demonstrator, which could prove to be an effective means of propulsion…
Weekly Space Hangout: Nov 21, 2018: Bruce Betts’ “Astronomy for Kids”
Hosts: Fraser Cain (universetoday.com / @fcain) Dr. Paul M. Sutter (pmsutter.com / @PaulMattSutter) Dr. Kimberly Cartier (KimberlyCartier.org / @AstroKimCartier )…
Breakthrough Starshot is Now Looking for the Companies to Build its Laser-Powered Solar Sails to Other Stars
Breakthrough Starshot, a project that hopes to send a small spacecraft to Proxima Centauri in our lifetimes, is now looking…
A Novel Concept For Braking Breakthrough Starshot
Researchers from the Max Planck Institute have come up with an interesting way to slow down Starshot's mission to Alpha…