the.com/solar sail
a spacecraft that catches starlight like a pirate catches wind, no fuel required
means A method of spacecraft propulsion that uses the pressure of sunlight on a large, lightweight reflective sheet to push a vehicle through space without burning any fuel.
from A modern compound of "solar" (from Latin "solaris," of the sun) and "sail" (from Old English "segl," the canvas that catches wind). The concept rides on a real 19th-century discovery: that light itself exerts a faint pressure, predicted by James Clerk Maxwell's theory of electromagnetism. The nautical metaphor was irresistible — if wind can fill a sail, why not light? — and writers and engineers picked up the phrase through the 20th century as the idea moved from speculation toward actual missions.
- thrust source
- photons bouncing off, transferring tiny momentum
- acceleration
- feeble at first, relentless forever
- top speed
- could theoretically approach a fraction of light
- first flight
- Japan's IKAROS sailed past Venus, 2010
- thickness
- thinner than a human hair, kilometers wide
ikaros — jaxa spacecraft deployed solar sail in 2010, first successful interplanetary solar sail mission
lightsail 2 — the planetary society's cubesat deployed 32 square meter sail in 2019, demonstrated controlled flight by sunlight alone
breakthrough starshot — yuri milner's initiative planning gram-scale probes with meter-scale sails to reach proxima centauri at 20% light speed