Applications

Concept   :   Physics   :   Applications   :   Bibliography

Currently there have been a few solar sail powered crafts launched into space so far and the technology still
remains in a developmental stage. There are a few prominent applications so far with some coming up while
other attempts have been made most failed due to problems with deploying or traveling to space.
  •  Japan's IKAROS in 2010 was the first solar sail application to be successfully deployed which was sent on a mission to Venus and then the far side of the sun. It's mission was partly to transfer data back about the solar sail performance and it continues to travel now.
  • The NanoSail-D was launched by NASA later in 2010 to orbit earth and also send back data about the performance of the solar sail. The 10 lb, 100 sq ft craft spent 240 days in orbit before burning up in reentry.
  • In 2015 the Sunjammer was scheduled to launch as a final test before the technology is used in other missions. The craft will be launch to the L1-Lagrangian point 900,000 miles from earth and deployed from there to travel to a point 1.8 million miles from earth. The craft will have a surface area of 13,000 sq ft. making it the largest solar sail to date. Currently the launch in indefinitely suspended due to budget problems.