14 DAY TRIAL // Solar sails were once confined to Sci Fi stories, but they're becoming reality. There have been plenty of projects, at least on paper, but NASA plans to put one into space. In fact, it's setting sail next year. The new spacecraft will be the largest solar sail deployed to date.
Part of the Sunjammer mission, the craft will have a sail measuring 38 meters, 125 feet, on one side, for a total surface of 1,200 square meters, 12,900 square feet. It will be seven times larger than any solar sail tested.
The mission will test the concept as scientists are keen to discover how well the craft can navigate, how it behaves in space and so on.
The data will prove crucial to any future missions based on the technology. Solar sails have a big advantage as a propulsion technology, they don't require any fuel.
They work based on a similar principle as regular sails, photons from the sun hit the sail pushing it slightly forward. In time, the momentum builds up and the craft can achieve impressive speeds.