First Solar Sail Might Soon Fly
By Jeremy Hsu
Special to SPACE.com
posted: 12 August 2009
08:43 am ET
Solar sails have long promised to harness sunlight for space exploration, just as early sailing ships harnessed the wind. Now the Planetary Society hopes to refit a NASA sail design and make a third U.S. attempt to fly the first solar sail in space.
Never before has a vehicle successfully flown in space using a solar sail as its primary means of propulsion. But it hasn't been for a lack of trying.
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