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Solar Sails - Solar Sailing

Solar Sailing is an inexpensive method of propelling spacecraft because no fuel or engines would be required.

Solar Sails would propel a spacecraft by utilizing the pressure created by the stream of photons (tiny units of light energy) from the sun. Once a spacecraft is in orbit, a lightweight sail would unfurl. Changing the position of the sail would increase or decrease speed. The thrust created by the photon stream is very low and interplanetary journeys would take years.



In May 2005 a Volna rocket launched from a Russian submarine in the Barents Sea may launch the privately built Cosmos-1 spacecraft. The Cosmos-1 spacecraft is designed to use solar sails to move through space.

Reference:

Picture from http://src.space.ru/page_30e.htm (Space Regatta Consortium)

Book:

- Starsailing: Solar Sails and Interstellar Travel
by Louis Friedman from
Amazon.com

- Solar Sailing: Technology, Dynamics and Mission Applications 
by Colin Robert McInnes
from Amazon.com

For other books use the space book search engine/links page.


Solar Sails Links

Solar Thrust Sailor: Solar sail with thruster ring.
Space Regatta Consortium-Znamaya:
Living with a Star: Proposed program from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Solar Sail - All about Solar Sails

Interstellar Probe:
DLR Solar Sail Homepage:
The Microlight Solar Sail:
Caltech's Solar Sails:
Geostorms:
Solar Blade:
Interworld Transport: Commercial Solar Sails
Oliver Boisard's Solar Sails:
Solar Polar Sail Mission:


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Copyright © 2000-2008 Vic Stathopoulos. All rights reserved.
Updated: Saturday 19th, July, 2008

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