IKAROS
Videos
IKAROS is a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency experimental spacecraft. The spacecraft was launched on 20 May 2010, aboard an H-IIA rocket, together with the Akatsuki probe and four other small spacec
A 1:64 scale model of the 14 m × 14 m (46 ft × 46 ft) sized IKAROS spacecraft
IKAROS spaceprobe in flight (artist's depiction)
IKAROS model
MESSENGER Venus 630 nm stretch
Solar sail
Videos
Solar sails are a method of spacecraft propulsion using radiation pressure exerted by sunlight on large surfaces. A number of spaceflight missions to test solar propulsion and navigation have been pro
IKAROS
…together with the Akatsuki (Venus Climate Orbiter) probe and four other small spacecraft. IKAROS is the first spacecraft to successfully demonstrate solar sail technology in interplanetary space. The craft's name is an allusion to the legendary Icarus (Ancient Greek: Ἴκαρος, Ikaros), who flew close to the Sun…
A NASA illustration of the unlit side of a half-kilometre solar sail, showing the struts stretching the sail
An artist's depiction of a Cosmos 1-type spaceship in orbit
Proposed material for the construction of solar sails - carbon fiber.