NASA To Demonstrate Largest-Ever Solar Sail in Space 91
Zothecula writes "NASA's upcoming Technology Demonstration Missions are intended to 'transform its space communications, deep space navigation and in-space propulsion capabilities.' Three project proposals have been selected for these missions, which should be launching in 2015 and 2016. One of those projects will involve demonstrating a mission-capable solar sail. While NASA has recently tested a solar sail measuring 100 square feet (9.29 square meters), this one will be the largest ever flown, spanning a whopping 409 square feet, or 38 square meters."
An important step towards propusion (Score:5, Informative)
Complete story (Score:2, Informative)
For the complete story, see the NASA announcement from August 22nd: http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oct/crosscutting_capability/tech_demo_missions.html
The sail is 38x38m. Two 20x20m sails were developed for NASA in 2005 by L'Garde and ATK. The thrust on the sail is approximately: 2 * (38m)^2 * 1368 W/m^2 / c ~= 0.01 N
Re:An important step towards propusion (Score:4, Informative)