This literature review focuses on the development of solar sails as a spacecraft propulsion system. While the idea of solar sailing is attributed to Johannes Kepler in the early 1600s, the first succe..
This literature review focuses on the development of solar sails as a spacecraft propulsion system. While the idea of solar sailing is attributed to Johannes Kepler in the early 1600s, the first successful launch of a solar sail propulsion system did not occur until 2010. The phenomena that enables solar sailing was first observed as a side effect of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Project Echo in the 1960s. Since then, much of the research into solar sail technology regards the optimization of the design and structure of solar sails and the minimization of degradation over time. There have been three successful launches of solar sails in the last decade: IKAROS from the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and LightSails 1 and 2 from The Planetary Society. This article provides a concise overview of the uses of and research regarding solar sail technology.
