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, the first space-probe with a solar sail in flight (artist's depiction), featuring a typical square sail configuration of almost 200 m2
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.
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
Solar sail
…to test solar propulsion and navigation have been proposed since the 1980s. The two spacecraft to successfully use the technology for propulsion were IKAROS, launched in 2010, and LightSail-2, launched in 2019. A further demonstrator, Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3), was launched in 2024, and…
A 1:64 scale model of the 14 m × 14 m (46 ft × 46 ft) sized IKAROS spacecraft
IKAROS model
MESSENGER Venus 630 nm stretch