NASA has selected a fascinating new project for further development, known as the Diffractive Solar Sail. By bending light before it hits the sail, this device could propel spacecraft more efficiently ...

Solar sailing has moved from science fiction concept to working hardware, and now a new generation of entrepreneurs wants to turn that gentle push of sunlight into a commercial engine. Instead of ...

NASA engineers and their industry partners are preparing to test two 20-meter (66-feet) long solar sail propulsion system designs — a critical milestone in development of a unique propulsion ...

The ribbon solar sail will be a solar sail design using a thin film strip embedded with diffractive gratings. It is a NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) project. This configuration leverages ...

More than four months after launching to space, a solar-sailing spacecraft has successfully spread its wings above our planet. Just like the wind guides a sailboat on the water, it only takes a slight ...

A project to develop diffractive solar sails has advanced to the third and final phase of NASA’s advanced concepts program. The team behind the project now has two years to further develop this ...

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When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. How do you design a sail that can get a spacecraft to another solar system? NASA's Voyager 1 and ...

A giant solar sail recently unfurled by Nasa has been spotted “tumbling” through space. Astronomers captured the 80-square-metre object, which was unfurled last week, appearing to fluctuate in ...

More than four months after launching to space, NASA's Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) has successfully deployed its solar sail, marking a significant milestone in the development of solar ...