NASA's Building A Solar Sail To Propel Space Exploration

Space.com

NASA's futuristic solar sail technology prototype is getting ready to launch to space this year. Like a sail on the ocean propels a boat with the wind, this space sail is meant to propel payloads by harnessing the pressure of sunlight.  Credit: NASA Ames Research Center

Transcript

00:00A NASA mission is testing revolutionary technology to allow robotic spacecraft to sail on sunlight.

00:08The Advanced Composite Solar Sail system introduces a new way to explore the cosmos.

00:16Much like a sailboat is propelled by wind, a solar sail spacecraft is pushed by light

00:21from the sun.

00:23Sunlight is composed of particles called photons.

00:27As these particles bounce off the reflective sail, the spacecraft accelerates.

00:32This eliminates the need for rocket propellant and makes it possible for spacecraft to travel

00:38indefinitely.

00:41The sail is stored inside a spacecraft about the size of a microwave oven.

00:47Lightweight carbon fiber booms unroll from the spacecraft to form rigid tubes that support

00:53the ultra-thin reflective polymer sail.

00:57When fully deployed, the sail forms a square that is 33 by 33 feet, or about half the size

01:03of a tennis court.

01:06Altitude and position are changed by angling the sail toward or away from the sun.

01:13Results from the mission will guide the design of next-generation solar sail spacecraft to

01:18explore and conduct science across the solar system.

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