Caltech scientists are developing laser-driven lightsails that could push spacecraft beyond our solar system. Their research ...

As early as the 1950s and ‘60s, science fiction writers John Campbell, Arthur C. Clarke and others were toying with the idea of “solar sails” for spacecraft propulsion. A program started in 2016 by ...

The idea of a lightsail comes from the fact that radiation pressure represents a mechanical pressure acting on a surface due ...

A solar sail could provide that continuous push ... At the Planetary Society, our mission is to advance space science and exploration. Most people on Earth live day to day and night to night ...

The idea of traveling through interstellar space using spacecraft propelled by ultrathin sails may sound like the stuff of sci-fi novels. But in fact, a program started in 2016 by Stephen Hawking and ...