Aug 30 2016
Save
Save
A strong enough laser can burn things, clean things, pop things, and most impressively, move things. Yep. Watch this…
Jun 10 2015
Save
Over the weekend, the LightSail satellite unfurled its gigantic solar sail to help propel it through space. Now, the…
May 21 2015
Save
For everything that is good out there, there’s always someone to naysay it. So how to respond when the haters come…
Apr 6 2015
Save
2,465. That’s the number of satellites that are whipping gracefully around the Earth as you read this.
Mar 13 2014
Save
Save
Stephen Baxter's new novel Proxima includes a sentient solar sail, but this unique type of spacecraft has a long…
Feb 1 2013
Save
Solar sails are all about "propellantless" propulsion — using photons from the Sun (as opposed to an onboard fuel…
Oct 20 2011
Save
In a series of upcoming technology demonstration missions, NASA is hoping to prove that giant solar sails are a…
Aug 19 2010
Save
Save
A lost scene of Close Encounters of the Third Kind? No, although it will go to space at one point.
Jul 28 2010
Save
Save
Less than two months after being unfurled in space, Japan's IKAROS solar sail accomplished its ambitious…
Jun 17 2010
Save
Save
Good news for the Little Japanese Solar Sail That Could, as the first images of the solar sail spread out in full…
Jun 10 2010
Save
Save
The 20meter (diagonally) solar sail Ikaros we mentioned last month has been successfully unfurled in space by its…
Jul 24 2008
Save
Save
NASA's getting set to launch the NanoSail-D next week, its first solar-sail powered spacecraft which catches photons…