Spacecraft outfitted with sails and propelled by the sun are no longer the stuff of science fiction or theoretical space missions. Now, a Rochester Institute of Technology researcher is taking solar ...

NASA has launched the latest attempt to test solar sail propulsion technology. The ACS3’s solar sail is made of a reflective polymer and is held by a boom made of carbon fiber composite material.

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Video shows NASA's futuristic solar sail technology prototype. Like a sail on the ocean propels a boat with the wind, this space ...

The stakes are high on several fronts: propulsion, climate technology, and the future of the night sky. Solar sails promise propulsion without propellant, but they also raise questions about orbital ...

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 ...

For most spacecraft, traveling through the vacuum of space requires fuel. NASA's experimental Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) is different, though. This vehicle could help NASA learn how ...

On May 21, 2010, Japan launched the first solar sail into space. Solar sail technology uses light for spacecraft propulsion, but not in the same way that traditional solar panels do. While solar ...

Sending a mission to the solar gravitational lens (SGL) is the most effective way of actually directly imaging a potentially ...

An historical introduction to space propulsion -- The rocket : how it works in space -- Rocket problems and limitations -- Non-rocket in-space propulsion -- The solar-sail option : from the oceans to ...

When Prajit Saravanan ’25 was exploring options for graduate school, he envisioned himself moving from the West Coast to New York City to pursue a Master’s degree at NYU. But after a friend at Santa ...