Sails have been helping people navigate the seas for thousands of years. But NASA believes their future is outside of Earth. The space agency has announced plans to develop a new solar sail system for a demonstration mission.
The project, called the Diffractive Solar Sail, is part of the III of the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program. won the stage. III. The projects selected for this phase seem to be the closest to reality. So a spacecraft powered by solar sails is not an imaginary possibility. In fact, some variations of this technique have already achieved results.
In 2010, a Japanese rover named Ikaros became the first vehicle to successfully use the technology in space. NASA then launched its own solar sail as it orbited Earth.
Still, the space agency says “diffraction” is a special power of the new proposal. The diffractive Solar Sail system uses pressure from sunlight to propel spaceships. Sails rely on small gratings to take advantage of diffraction, which allows light to spread as it passes through an opening. As a result, the spacecraft is able to maximize the available sunlight power.
Existing solar sails attempt to balance power and propulsion, while the new concept increases propulsion without sacrificing maneuverability.
NASA plans to send a spacecraft with this technique to explore the sun’s poles, a task impossible with today’s technology. “With our team’s combined expertise in optics, aeronautics, traditional solar sails and meta-materials, we hope to allow scientists to see the Sun like never before,” says project leader Amber Dubil.
NASA is funding researchers $2 million to make this goal a reality.
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