Japan Successfully Deploys First Solar Sail In Space

An anonymous reader writes "This morning the Japanese space agency, JAXA, successfully unfurled a solar sail in space for the first time. Solar sails offer the best hope for deep space exploration because they eliminate the need to carry fuel. The Japanese spacecraft IKAROS created centripetal force by spinning, allowing it to launch the 0.0003-inch-thick sail. While deployment is a challenge in a zero-gravity environment, spacecraft — unlike airplanes — don't have to contend with drag, so with each photon that hits the sail helps the spacecraft gather speed."

Comments

Re:It's my childhood future...

[Monkeedude1212]

Sentient robots? No

That's debatable.

The Bajorans did it first...

[dhavleak]

http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Lightship Ancient grace and function.

Centrifugal, not centripetal

[Geoffrey.landis]

What, nobody's posted the obligatory xkcd reference yet?

Oh, wait--