Scientists Work to Sail Spaceship on Sun’s Wind

Scientists Work to Sail Spaceship on Sun’s Wind

PASADENA, Calif. (Wireless Flash) – It sounds spacey, but scientists may soon figure out how to use the sun’s wind to sail a spaceship. Dr. Louis Friedman – who co-created The Planetary Society along with the late Carl Sagan – says the society is currently building and testing a solar wind-sailing spaceship that will likely launch later this year. He says the craft moves by converting the pressure of the sun’s photons into momentum when sunlight is bounced off a reflective surface. The technology doesn’t require fuel and Friedman claims it will enable the vessels to take humans to the stars. Dr. Friedman will lecture on the project called “Cosmos I: The Attempt to Fly the First Solar Sail Mission” and its progress at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California, next Monday (April 11).

Mon 04-08-02