The Planetary Society announced plans on Monday to test a new means of space travel using beams of sunlight. The aptly-named LightSail spacecraft would be launched for a test flight aboard an Atlas V rocket in May -- paving the way for a full-fledged flight in 2016 -- according to a statement released by the U.S.-based space advocacy and exploration group. The proposed propulsion system, which uses large, reflective surfaces called solar sails, aims to utilize the energy stored in photons -- elementary particles that transmit light -- to set sail on sunlight. Although photons do not have any mass, the momentum transferred when a photon collides with the solar sail could, in theory, propel the spacecraft forward, providing a continuous, albeit small, acceleration. “The idea ultimately is to be able to tack like a sailboat on each orbit,” Executive Director of the society William Sanford Nye -- popularly known as “Bill Nye the Science Guy” -- told The New York Times, adding that both LightSails were built for less than $4 million.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 16:05:55 +0000
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