Latest Space-based solar power Stories

NASA -- NASA engineers and their industry partners have successfully deployed two 400-square-meter solar sails during ground testing. This is a critical milestone in the development of a unique propulsion technology that uses the Sun to propel vehicles through space. Solar sail propulsion technologies bounce sunlight off giant, reflective sails made of lightweight material 40 to 100 times thinner than a piece of writing paper. The continuous pressure provides sufficient thrust to perform...

NASA -- Solar sails. The idea of using these large, reflective structures to "sail" through space is nothing new. In fact, it's been around for a long time -- first suggested nearly 400 years ago by the German astronomer Johannes Kepler, after he "discovered" comet tails being blown by what he believed to be a kind of solar breeze. Kepler suggested ships could possibly move through space using large sails to capture this "breeze" from the Sun, much the way the...