Watch a Powerful Laser Beam Push a Piece of Foil Forward
A strong enough laser can burn things, clean things, pop things, and most impressively, move things. Yep. Watch this…
Here's Proof That the LightSail Satellite Has Unfurled Properly
Over the weekend, the LightSail satellite unfurled its gigantic solar sail to help propel it through space. Now, the…
This Response To Solar Sail Haters Is On Point (And It Rhymes!)
For everything that is good out there, there’s always someone to naysay it. So how to respond when the haters come for…
Why We Need a Better Way to Kill Satellites
2,465. That’s the number of satellites that are whipping gracefully around the Earth as you read this.
How the Solar Sail Could Fuel Interplanetary Travel
Stephen Baxter's new novel Proxima includes a sentient solar sail, but this unique type of spacecraft has a long…
NASA will launch the largest solar sail in history as soon as next year
Solar sails are all about "propellantless" propulsion — using photons from the Sun (as opposed to an onboard fuel…
NASA To Unfurl the Largest Solar Sail Ever Flown In Space
In a series of upcoming technology demonstration missions, NASA is hoping to prove that giant solar sails are a…
What Is This?
A lost scene of Close Encounters of the Third Kind? No, although it will go to space at one point.
Solar Sail Proves Photon Acceleration Works, as it Twists and Turns Under the Sun
Less than two months after being unfurled in space, Japan's IKAROS solar sail accomplished its ambitious aim—becoming…
Japan's Space-Surfing Solar Sail Photographed For First Time
Good news for the Little Japanese Solar Sail That Could, as the first images of the solar sail spread out in full…
Japan's Mega Solar Kite Conquered Space, But Now Needs To Fly
The 20meter (diagonally) solar sail Ikaros we mentioned last month has been successfully unfurled in space by its…
NASA's First Solar-Sail Powered Craft Set to Ride on a Stream of Photons Next Week
NASA's getting set to launch the NanoSail-D next week, its first solar-sail powered spacecraft which catches photons…