A beam of light carries both energy and momentum. The momentum of light results in a slight pressure on a surface exposed to sunlight that is known as photon pressure. When light reflects off a mirror, it pushes the mirror slightly. A spacecraft that...

Scientists are looking for ways to propel spacecraft with less fuel than a rocket uses. The solar sail intrigues many because it requires no fuel at all. In the late 1860s the theory of electromagnetism, first described by James Clerk Maxwell, defined...

Solar sails (also called light sails or photon sails, especially when they use light sources other than the Sun) are a proposed form of spacecraft propulsion using large membrane mirrors. Radiation pressure is small and decreases by the square of the...

STEVEN C. JOHNSON The Record (Bergen County, NJ) 12-10-1995 SAILING INTO A SOLAR ECLIPSE By STEVEN C. JOHNSON Date: 12-10-1995, Sunday Section: TRAVEL Edition: All Editions -- Sunday Column: CRUISES If you're an avid stargazer, this is the cruise reservation for you....

Byline: Peter N. Spotts Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor Like many a sailing voyage, Louis Friedman's "cruise" began in a saltwater harbor. But his tiny craft's destination is unlike anything a wind-whipped sailor has ever experienced. Tuesday, Cosmos-1 is...