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Sunlight pushes gently on spacecraft with large, lightweight, mirrored solar sails. They enable travel throughout the solar system and beyond without rocket propellant. SolarSailWiki covers everything from the science of light pressure, what they can do for us, to technologies and missions of the future.

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SolarSailWiki - News

Solar Sail Readies for Early Warning Mission

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LmePYdraoU YouTube video about NASA's solar sail technology demonstration mission from the NASA Marshall TV channel. --Ben 12:25, 12 December 2011 (EST)

(Mon, 12 Dec 2011 07:25:00 -0500)

Flying on Sunshine

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/333656/title/Flying_on_Sunshine The September 10th issue of ScienceNews covers recent developments in solar sailing. --Ben 14:02, 29 August 2011 (EDT)

(Mon, 29 Aug 2011 10:02:00 -0400)

NASA Announces Technology Demonstration Missions

http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oct/crosscutting_capability/tech_demo_missions.html NASA's Office of the Chief Technologist has selected L'Garde to test fly a 38x38m solar sail as a technology demonstration mission. The mission will deploy a sail 4X larger than L'Garde tested previously on the ground (20x20m), use solar torque for steering, and test accurate navigation required for missions. Congratulations! --Ben 14:45, 22 August 2011 (EDT)

(Mon, 22 Aug 2011 10:45:00 -0400)

NASA Technology Solicitations Announced

http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oct/home/solicitations.html The NASA Office of the Chief Technologist released solicitations for technology development in three areas: NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) NASA Unique and Innovative Game Changing Technology NASA Technology Demonstration Missions (TDM) --Ben 10:22, 3 March 2011 (EST)

(Thu, 03 Mar 2011 05:22:00 -0500)

First NanoSail-D Pictures Taken

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/01feb_solarsailflares/ The first pictures have been taken of NanoSail-D from the ground by observers in Finland, Sweden, and Argentina. See Also NanoSail-D Flikr collection --Ben 14:42, 3 February 2011 (EST)

(Thu, 03 Feb 2011 09:42:00 -0500)