Illustration of a solar sail. Credit: NASA

Notices where this attachment appears

1. Embed this notice
   Fraser Cain (fraser@m.universetoday.com)'s status on Saturday, 14-Jun-2025 12:43:46 JST Fraser Cain

   Solar sails get their propulsion from the Sun, so they don't need to carry propellant, but they come with their own challenges. A sail has a large surface area but a low mass, which creates a huge moment of inertia and makes it difficult to control, especially with reaction wheels. A team of engineers has developed a reflectivity control device, where thin membranes on the sail change their reflectivity, producing less force and allowing the sail to change direction.

   https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.19865