It's the biggest project in our history.
The Planetary Society is taking solar sailing to the next level…
Our solar sail is back! The Planetary Society is building a spacecraft that will sail on sunlight alone by the end of 2010. The new solar sail project, boosted by a one-million-dollar anonymous donation, is the beginning of an innovative program that will launch three separate spacecraft over the course of several years.
Our program -- called LightSail -- begins with our LightSail-1 mission, which will demonstrate that sunlight can propel a spacecraft in Earth orbit. LightSail 2 and 3, more ambitious still, will reach farther into space.
What is Solar Sailing?
Solar sail propulsion is simple in concept. Light photons bounce onto a mirror-like aluminized Mylar sail. As each photon hits, its momentum is transmitted to the spacecraft.
It is nice to dream...
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