Everyone has heard of these, but how
many people know a whole lot about
them? The idea is pretty simple. Just
like a sail on a boat, pressure causes overall
movement. The form this takes is light,
which exerts pressure onto a mirror, pushing
it along.
The advantage solar sails have is that they do not
require fuel, and thus can have potentially
far longer run times than conventional
spacecraft. It is also possible for the sail to both
face inwards, and use the light from the Sun to
drop into a lower orbit, and to use said light to
be pushed into a higher orbit.
Another downside, of course, is that further
out from the sun the density of photon coverage
drops, which drops harnessable force.
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