solar sails
NASA’s Next Solar Sail is About to Go to Space
Everyone knows that solar energy is free and almost limitless here on Earth. The same is true for spacecraft operating…
Exploring the Solar System with Swarms of Microprobes
It's satisfying to sit back and take stock of all the places in the Solar System that we've explored. The…
Solar Sails Could Reach Mars in Just 26 Days
A recent study submitted to Acta Astronautica explores the potential for using aerographite solar sails for traveling to Mars and…
Birds use Dynamic Soaring to Pick Up Velocity. We Could Use a Similar Trick to Go Interstellar
A new proposal for an interstellar mission shows how a solar sail could use the same technique birds do to…
NASA Tests a Solar Sail Segment of its Enormous Solar Cruiser Mission
A team led by NASA Marshall was selected to build a technology demonstrator called the Solar Cruiser to mature solar…
How do you Keep a Solar Sail Stable?
Solar sailing seems like a simple concept - instead of being pushed along by the wind, as in a typical…
Using the Sun as a Gravitational Lens Would Let Us See Exoplanets With Incredible Resolution
Have you ever seen wispy arcs and rings in astronomical images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and other observatories?…
A new Kind of Solar Sail Could let us Explore Difficult Places to Reach in the Solar System
Solar sailing technology has been a dream of many for decades. The simple elegance of sailing on the light waves…
Forget About Interstellar Flights. Tiny Light Sails Could be Used to Explore the Solar System Today
Solar sails have been receiving a lot of attention lately. In part that is due to a series of high…
A Cool Idea to Catch Up With an Interstellar Visitor
Poor, dim-witted humanity. We used to think we were the center of everything. That wasn't that long ago, and even…