July 22, 2010

Maybe you missed it, but Japan successfully launched the world's first solar sail craft a couple months ago. I know I missed it. I was just looking at Wikipedia for info about solar sails, remembering the disappointment of the Planetary Society's Cosmos 1 in 2005 and thinking that surely they'd tried something since then. I don't know how I missed it, but JAXA has already successfully launched a solar sail to Venus that demonstrated the ability to change attitude by adjusting LEDs on the sail instead of physically tilting the sail.

AWESOME.

posted by Jay Kinetic 13 years ago
  • At the peak of my father's career, he bought a 27-foot sailboat and dragged the family to the marina every weekend. My most vivid memory of the time involved ducking under a fast-moving yardarm during a tacking maneuver. I'm happy that Solar Sailors don't have to deal with that.
  • Yessssssssss! *pumps fist* I've always been enthused about solar sails since I read Cordwainer Smith's 'The Lady Who Sailed The Soul" as a kid. Story here. More SciFi solar sails
  • I had always understood that there was no ambient light in outer space, because no air to diffuse it. So this does look authentic, I think.