NASA's Next-Generation Solar Sail Mission

NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System seeks to advance future space travel and expand our understanding of our Sun and solar system.
Learn more: www.nasa.gov/general/nasa-nex...
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Video credit: NASA's Ames Research Center
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NASA's Ames Research Center is located in California's Silicon Valley. Follow us on social media to hear about the latest developments in space, science, technology, and aeronautics.

[@absiddique139]

I only wish if NASA had the budget of the U.S military.

[@ReiseLukas]

So you want your taxes to double? The IRS would love to congratulate you on that brilliant idea

[@idkpenguin1046]

@@ReiseLukashe meant to give the us military buget to nasa and the nasa budget to the us military

[@sussydogelikesplanes]

@@ReiseLukas yeah if its for nasa

[@Solid_Snake88]

​@@idkpenguin1046 such a wonderful idea, can't wait to get invaded by russia and china

[@sagitta9891]

Unless there's oil on Mars...

[@MiG-25IsGOAT]

Thank you for thinking in solar sailing again! Its weird this amazing propulsion method and we haven't yet mastered it, but its great that you guys are working on this, good luck!

[@known3617]

Solar sails are an incredibly niche technology with little practical use case. The further you get from a star the less efficient they become and the slower they move. Biggest issue is solar sails are stupid fragile. A smaller sized sail for actual use would be 100m x 100m and the metallic coated Mylar sheet would be a few microns in thickness. This basically means any matter that touches the sail will tear it. Just the act of leaving the heliosphere would destroy a solar sail since the change in pressure is great enough.

[@pooppoop9112]

​@known3617 we have an keyboard expert on our hands

[@shivamduhan7700]

@@known3617 away from the sun you can use laser pulses sent from the moon (assuming a moonbase) to propel such a solar sail spacecraft. Fragility of the sails is the biggest obstacle in reaching another star. I think we need to invent a new material. Or apply an aerogel coating on it so it can trap debris.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

A literal _bright idea._

[@almanee]

😐

[@MissiFull]

xD

[@_BL4CKB1RD_]

Noice.

[@TASTEGROUND]

yall, can i borrow your computer mine suck and i wanna experiment something in minecraft

[@ljushastighet]

I hope you are joking

[@SmartAfrican_]

Please stop asking stupid questions.

[@TASTEGROUND]

@@SmartAfrican_ 🤓

[@Danderlion]

Yea for "science" purposes

[@Just_som_Ottur]

Ya gawt games on yo fone¿

[@JBaxter-pi8oj]

Amazing. Good to see that NASA is utilizing the natural "environment" to help move spacecraft. Let's have more of this! Thank you.

[@Astra2]

Been using gravity assists for a long time

[@imamfauzi1101]

​@@Astra2 gravity assist was great, but this one is revolutionaries, using solar power to generate thrust instead of rocket propulsion

[@Astra2]

@@imamfauzi1101 Gravity assists were and are revolutionary. Using gravity instead of rocket fuel. But I get what you mean, solar sails have the potential to accelerate crafts' to a fraction the speed of light, which is absolutely mind-boggling and could one day allow for interstellar missions.

[@imamfauzi1101]

@@Astra2 Yeah that's what I mean, gravity assist really depends on how much gravity that some stellar body has, hence it's called gravity assist, and it's not really increase the speed so much higher, especially a significant fraction of the speed of light, solar sail just need a solar power from nearby star

[@Astra2]

@@imamfauzi1101 Well speed is relative. The Parker solar probe is travelling at 692,000 km/h. Still much slower than the speed of light.

[@Shineinpoverty]

This is coolest stuff I have heard of in years. Spaceships with sails, this is pretty much stimpunk

[@brb4903]

You wanted to say cyberpunk. Steampunk was at the industrial revolution.

[@randomdaveUK]

I've always loved the look of these, image that flying from system to system

[@flyingdoggo316]

I don’t think these sails are designed to do inter stellar travel. They’re best if confined to one solar system

[@huwale]

wouldnt work for interstellar journeys

[@randomdaveUK]

@@huwale couldn't it pull the sail in between systems and open it again once it once it reaches the next? A probe or satellite, not people

[@huwale]

@@randomdaveUK the further away from a star, the less power it has. once its far enough away from the sun it'll be basically unpowered and will take thousands of years to reach the next system.

[@randomdaveUK]

@@huwale that's not true, there's no resistance in space, it won't slow down. Anytime it's stuck by photons it's speed gradually increases.

[@neumagellan4519]

So cool to see another bit of science fiction become reality. When I was a kid we had not even landed on the moon yet, but I would read about star faring ships using ion drives, solar sails and the like. These things seemed like pure fantasy that might never be seen in my lifetime. Now, ion drives are in regular use. Solar sails are being deployed in space for field testing and further development. Artificial intelligence is becoming reality. It is a wondrous thing to see happening.

[@Aldx_Ja]

HUMAN SUPREMACY!!!! THE STARS ARE OUR BIRTHRIGHT💯💯

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

_Earth-Minbari War,_ here we come...😉

[@Idk-lt8os]

WE WERE BORN TO INHERIT THE STARS

[@haijin7484]

Too bad we are busy killing each other…

[@palashmatt1435]

Wonderful 😮

[@kirillgurevich8671]

Thank you for moving humanity forward

[@MiG-25IsGOAT]

literally

[@peterd9698]

I wonder if you could use spin instead of those booms to keep it stretched out.

[@ConstellationMushrooms]

Such fun looking work

[@jeremysart]

Awesome stuff

[@luizlopez2022]

brilliant Idea

[@stargot1]

Great ! Predicted in sci Fi books for so long and to see it come true I look forward to see this mission succeed. I would not accept any failure from Rocket Lab or other third parties this time !!

[@undeadbrosm41a39]

Count Dooku would be proud

[@ashuraff7771]

Só consegui lembrar da série: For All Mankind

[@lean_sumek]

Fantastic 😊🥰🤣

[@ioanbota9397]

Realy I like it so so much like you can imagine

[@FOLKTALES456]

Started exploring the seas with sails, only to go to it for space. It's really cool.

[@known3617]

Seems DOA, further you get from a star the less effective these become and quite dramatically. Also if a solar sail was to leave the heliosphere it be torn to shreds.

[@gordonlaupu1790]

Bro, instead of sea of thieves, it's gonna be a constilation of corsairs

[@Intension123]

Amazing and very interesting to see. The sails remind me of the oldschool cartoon: Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors. Where the big space ship also had sails.

[@ninacarducci]

Πωπωπωπω! Τρελαινομαι!😲👏👏👏👏👏❤

[@ivaroAI]

I heard about this and it's research which dates quite a while back. Great to see the continous development. What are the power consumption requirements for such spacecraft? I'm sure we can already sustain it on the energy captured from a cosmic void. These will achieve great goals and a great achievement for you. 👏

[@NASAAmes]

Good question! ACS3’s cruising power is in the 10-12 watt range at any given time.

[@shivamduhan7700]

@@NASAAmes can laser beams from LEO/moon be used to propel the sail when it gets too far away from the sun? How fragile are the sails? Could they be coated in a thin layer of aerogel to protect them from fast moving debris?

[@rushikeshshinde9751]

Radiation pressure in the Work ..... I would suggest to make a 100% reflecting material to get the most out of the force due to change in momentum

[@nikhilkumarsingh889]

INCREDIBLE !!!! 🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲

[@Isosceles51]

Yes! We can finally find a way to send probes to interstellar destinations!

[@TheRealThanos55]

I calculated that if we wanted to go to Mars, it would take it 55 days for the solar sail to accelerate at a speed of 185, 145m/s.

[@pooppoop9112]

It has been predicted to take 26 days to get to mars what were ur calculations

[@footballnewscr]

just imagine , we will be able to reach exoplanetary system i.e proxima centauri within 20 yrs with this solar sail . hope this tech gets 100% success

[@distroni_3188]

How much weight can a solar sail carry? cuz i heard the major downside of em was that they struggled to carry more weight which would be needed for research or anything like it.

[@Alpha-ul2rb]

We're leaving the solar system with this one!!!

[@user-dr3ww9wh2y]

Допустим,но как вы собираетесь "плыть против ветра"? Или что бы добраться обратно от центра солнечной системы, всё же понадобятся двигатели? (:

[@user-jp9bp1co7h]

جيد

[@mariasarasua2062]

Never did i think i would reach the point of science fiction now at the pinnacle

[@urbanaerials5614]

What’s crazy is with a 1km/1km laser array on earth or moon you could power a very small solar sale probe close to the speed of light with photonic propulsion

[@shmookins]

Amazing. Would the craft still need onboard fuel for orientation correction? Because surely if the photons hit at different angles, the craft will eventually rotate. I imagine that we can get close up images of Kepler planets before the end of this century using solar sails.

[@JimmyBlether]

While I'm not aware of the internal components of the spacecraft, it's both probably possible to change the shape of the sail by bending it to get deliberate asymmetric thrust for attitude control, and the spacecraft bus may have a set of momentum wheels for orientation control. That being said, momentum or reaction wheels (basically gyroscopes) do hit saturation speed eventually so on a larger spacecraft attitude control thrusters would be required but as this is a tech demo, there probably are none.

[@MiG-25IsGOAT]

you could also use reaction wheels, but also some solar panels are needed

[@solaireastora5394]

As if we are sailing in space, my mind is blown

[@_North]

If you can't beat it, join it: The Speed of Light

[@Potatoincanada201Unknow-bv1yy]

Apparently, these spacecraft are really light. You might be able to fit some ion engines on this 😂

[@orangeposting707]

This is a genuinely incredible idea. How much wattage would be required to use the same type of propulsion on a crewed mission? Not light speed, I just want to know how much power would be enough to significantly cut down on the length of a trip to mars or beyond, and how much time it would cut off.

[@fun_g]

Idk if its just me a vertical floating diamond looks kinda goofy 🤣

[@TANUJKUMARPandey9999]

Doesn't the particles in Interstellar medium provide drag to the sailboat ?

[@pooppoop9112]

There are pretty much almost 0 particles there drag is non existanf

[@coffeeisthepathtovictory1290]

This is the new age of sail

[@ThatOnePresant]

If one of the people who see this comment were at the most recent powwow in silicon valley, its me the 10 yr old girl who said i wanted to work for nasa someday and you guys gave me an inventors notebook :) and i took a picture with my mom in the space suit cutout. also i drew in the notebook the whole way back to where i live (2 hrs) :) If you see this comment pls respond :)

[@1More_Dreamer]

Imagine the slogan, "Alfa Centauri 5024"

[@cakirismail78]

I wonder about the outcome of space sailing technology. Have you been successful in this regard?

[@AlineAquino1]

❤❤❤

[@paudieoc1234]

How do they stop rocks smashing through it?

[@NOAHPCPRO]

half to size of a tenis cort tell me how long it acutally is!

[@infernoplexx9562]

R u dumb. He said 33 feet

[@MicurSilet]

💖

[@Shob1234]

What's the solution for micrometeoroids hitting the sails? I'm sure you all have some clever polymer or something you interweave into them to make them more rigid and stable, but damage might still happen.

[@maxisp1000]

So I stead of trying miniaturize the sail, consider the heavy lift vehicles and build what is needed to survive the mission. Large rockets are available.

[@solaireastora5394]

Probably best to have a hybrid of all solutions, more tools in the tool box

[@AdricM]

Im glad the planetary society's solar sail has spurred nasa to try!

[@jmlee737]

Yes... Le Papillon is in near future

[@akauppi2]

Any spacecraft would “travel indefinitely” - unless crashes to another body. Remaining controllable indefinitely is a whole different thing - and useful.

[@collectiusindefinitus6935]

Well yes, but staying in an orbit is basically the same as staying still in space, so “travel” means changing trajectory.

[@ParashMitra15]

What about asteroid impact on those sail which will be torn before they reach the end of solar system.

[@xd0895]

Bro asteroids will not hit the sail. They are too far apart and very avoidable.

[@SpottinPlanesForLife]

​@@xd0895he's talking about the small ones

[@pooppoop9112]

​@@SpottinPlanesForLife yeah those ones too

[@collectiusindefinitus6935]

With a sail that thin and the speeds associated with space, a micrometeorite will probably just leave a micrometeorite shaped hole without tearing the sail in the process, which means the sail itself would be able to take quite a few impacts before performance is severely impacted.

[@DavidGalich77]

Sounded like an advertisement! Lmao

[@aseelanza]

That's because you're a consumer to them. They don't need anything from you except your faith in what they tell you.

[@jamesbarry1673]

Oh good. Something to look forward to in 25 years

[@Lyenati]

Better than to not have anything to look forward too

[@_North]

I hate how some people are not acknowledging how this is going to be the indefinite future of spaceflight for a while

[@aseelanza]

You actually believe something can be pushed by light? how gullible are you man

[@kurd992004]

اتمنى أن نرى اسرار هذا الكون الواسع

[@nicholaschapman3558]

So if something pieces the thin sheet then what?

[@BRACIAKSERO]

How can something that doesn't have mass push spaceships or other similar things in space? It's about the difference in temperatures between two sides of surfaces or is it something else? I guess the energy from photons has some part in it. Maybe photons actually have a mass?

[@collectiusindefinitus6935]

Photons actually have a very small amount of momentum to them, it’s a force called radiation pressure.

[@BRACIAKSERO]

@@collectiusindefinitus6935 I didn't know about that. Thanks for the answer. Cheers 👊💪

[@aseelanza]

00:15 😂😂😂😂😂😭😭

[@Wilbur1906]

Hopefully it will be able to withstand the asteroid belts and other space debris it might encounter.

[@electricminecrafter]

will yall use lasers for additional acceleration

[@Captain_Jebediah]

There’s a plan like that to reach Proxima Centauri, although right now we’re just waiting for the technology to catch up so we can make the probes weigh under a few grams.

[@electricminecrafter]

@@Captain_Jebediah graphene? edit also jebs cool, but bob kerman is better

[@Captain_Jebediah]

@@electricminecrafter I just looked it up, the project is called Breakthrough Starshot. Also, I think it was Bob who actually walked on the Mun first for me because Jeb was on my space station and I couldn't do orbital rendezvous yet.

[@eusuntlorean]

Isnt’t the sail going to get damaged?

[@jamesdelcol3701]

It's good for probes. We should develop mini nuclear technology and let that be a dull propellant for a long period of time for a probe to cover distances at incredible speeds. If we can shoot one out there using the very soft solar and shift to a mini nuclear propellent system, we'll be surveying space neighborhoods immediately. In a few decades we will know what is happening to a greater extent. The mini nuclear propellant should get the probe to 800,000 mph and we can cover a light year in 7,000 years. With probes all the way out there in every direction, we will have a lot of information pertinent to the earth and what man is capable of over the next 2,000 years. They will do great things with this surveying equipment all over the universe in 20,000 years. They can accomplish this by getting a solid launch pad from the Moon and Mars. Send countless space probes with great surveying equipment on board in every direction. Launched at different speeds depending on the mission, but some should reach top speeds to really see what is out there. I think in my lifetime, they will know much about the universe. I am very tuned into science and engineering. In 100,000 years man can become something very extraordinary. Terraforming the earth to sustain 60 billion humans efficiently. Certainly we'll defend the earth from impacts and create a scientific community who continues to breakthrough the next science to the frontier in every field of engineering and all the health sciences. Humans could be here advancing for 2 billion years. That surveying equipment will become extremely important for the humans in the future. We should try and set them up with an automatic surveying knowledge base which consistently sends information to several main systems and over 100,000 1 million years, it will become a huge factor. Very exciting stuff.

[@sourabhkarmakar8040]

Just like USCSS Covenant from Alien Covenant

[@ZainAli-hv9fv]

How do these work ? Last I knew photons don’t have mass, that’s why they can travel at the speed of light. If they don’t have mass, them being reflecting won’t have any net change in momentum because there was none to begin with… right? Someone please explain

[@rosyidharyadi7871]

photon don't have mass, but they do have momentum, and also solar wind may help pushing as well. correct me if i'm wrong.

[@playeryoshi252]

NASA, will you ever use this technology for crewed missions in the future? I wonder how crewed missions with solar-sail technology would work!

[@mrsmall9917]

But the sail probably needs to be very big

[@downrodeo]

May I know how fast would these things go?

[@Random_Human731]

Around 10% the speed of light

[@RinkoCH-sg3kl]

really fast like going to mars in just 24 days

[@collectiusindefinitus6935]

Very low acceleration, about 0.00001 N/m^2, if I use F = 2PA/c, which would assume the sail is facing the sun directly and has perfect reflectivity. (I may be wrong about the formula btw)

[@asparagusstaging430]

@@Random_Human731 Outside of science fiction books, not in a million years.

[@Idk-lt8os]

@@asparagusstaging430it does go that fast

[@shivamduhan7700]

this will allow us to visit alpha centauri and proxima B

[@Chickenflaavorramen]

Bruh is this treasure planet technology in real life 😂

[@TheGameknight203]

Hmmmmmmm, what if you also ad solar panels on some parts and just make those power big flashlights.

[@aseelanza]

00:15 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@TheKogeoM]

Is it a bird? No it's a plane! No no it is Super-man! Nah it's just a kite

[@oldcodger4672]

The principles of Gauss’s Law would suggest the propulsive force would decline according to the distance from the sun. Not so good for intergalactic travel.

[@societenouvelledastronomie]

Depuis le temps qu'on en parle... La propulsion photonique !

[@Stoney_AKA_James]

Solar sails are a great idea, but not a new concept

[@brb4903]

Lol what do you mean:)) Imagine working a few decades on a new project and after finishing it someone says it's not new :)))

[@collectiusindefinitus6935]

Yeah obviously, we’ve conceptualised a whole bunch of potential future propulsion systems already.

[@harshjha4960]

We are born to inherit the star

[@gren509]

This MUST be an April Fools joke ! What is the force per square meter on the sail ? How fast will the ship accelerate ?

[@MS-qx9uw]

ACS3 already launched by the time you posted this

[@ImieNazwiskoOK]

The very rough answer to both is: very small. But if you have a light spacecraft with large sail then slowly you can go very far.

[@kaiserwhence2468]

It's so thin, what about small debris striking?

[@nightjarflying]

Small debris goes straight through - no problem.

[@kaiserwhence2468]

@@nightjarflying well it will tear a small hole won't it? Enough small holes and the efficiency of the sail will start going And those debris,even though small will have immense kinetic energy

[@hamzahkhan8952]

@@kaiserwhence2468 true, but it wouldnt spend much time in earth orbit. it would probably used for missions beyond LEO where there is less debris. even then, the rate at which debris could cause its efficiency to go down probably wouldn't have a big impact on a mission (dependiing on the length of the mission)

[@nightjarflying]

@@kaiserwhence2468There isn't enough dust & micro-meteorite particles to have a noticeable effect - the Japanese IKAROS 2010 sailed for 5 years & it hits its time targets perfectly predictably - it wouldn't if it was riddled with holes. The big space risk is frying electronics from cosmic rays & solar particles, not physical damage by rocks, pebbles, dust etc etc.

[@nightjarflying]

@@kaiserwhence2468Very, very little kinetic energy is transferred to the sail as something dashes through at thousands of m/s

[@alexw4482]

It’s fantastic we are exploring these new technologies, but how durable is a solar sail? It looks like even small particles of rock would rip right through it, especially if it gets to the intended speeds.

[@NASAAmes]

ACS3’s attitude control system can counteract imbalances due to relatively large holes (centimeters across) even at the most outboard edges of the sails.

[@alextompa2669]

Would there not be photons traveling in all directions in space from other stars slowing it down?

[@pooppoop9112]

The sun would massively over powered the stars

[@user-gz3kg9mh8m]

What can you tell me about the various Zootopia Pets X's From Above SimCity Multi-Players Multi-Telephones Multi-Microphones Full Time Gamers Hackers X's Advanced Civilization Technology Overlord Overwatch Guardians of Galaxy Gameplays? Their various pacts and alliances.

[@letter27thorn]

Jolly Roger moment

[@legoworks-cg5hk]

So do photons loose energy when they are reflected? Why don't they change wavelength or speed? Edit: codyslab made a video on this kzbin.info/www/bejne/hJiUiWujha-tn6Msi=rbiqNn9fl9cql1c0

[@la6610]

How are you going to deal with space debris smashing into your puny futile sail?

[@NASAAmes]

ACS3’s attitude control system can counteract imbalances due to relatively large holes (centimeters across) even at the most outboard edges of the sails.

[@Y2Kvids]

Have you thought of exploding nukes to power the sails

[@mrsmall9917]

Lol I don't think the spacecraft gonna survive that

[@Idk-lt8os]

Considering the size of the the sails the plasma ball produced by the explosion would instantly vaporize the entire sail. And if we assume the sail was indestructible the power would be very brief compared to the (pretty much) infinite power of the sun

[@TheSuperDuperLS]

We get it, you watched 3 body problem.

[@collectiusindefinitus6935]

You’re going to need something more substantial than a thinner-than-paper mirror to make an Orion drive out of. If you’re using a photon sail, best to use a laser.

[@Ydv_Mitin]

What if the spacecraft is not facing the sun or the sun is hidden? How will it sail without light falling on it during this period of absence of photons?🤔

[@Lyenati]

They have gyroscopes that track the deviation of the angle of the sail when it passes behind an object, so they can reconfigure it back to the right angle after. It also probably has a light sensor that makes it always face the sun.

[@flatbear123]

How do you bring it back to earth?

[@NASAAmes]

While the exact location of reentry will not be known until the deorbit process begins, ACS3 is expected to begin deorbiting roughly 3 months after sail deployment. As a required part of the launch readiness certification, the ACS3 deorbit plan was analyzed to demonstrate and prove that there are no risks posed by the ACS3 deorbit process.

[@aseelanza]

​@@NASAAmeswow that's a very genuine and smart response. i'm so brainwashed right now I believed everything you said without a shred of doubt. good luck in your endeavor and I hope you can pollute the minds of the rest of these NPCs before he gets out of prison. Oh and you don't really need complex ideas to brainwash these drones, you can literally say anything and they'll fall for it so you should save your energy

[@martintekula]

i cant help it but i dont see this as future not even short lasting one... it takes too much time for such complicted technology to gain usable acceleration not to say you cant maneuver with motor like precision

[@gamingmovies-ay99]

Where nuclear thermal propulsion?

[@essayn]

In the middle 70s already introduced.

[@samuelpoiriermartinsson6852]

Treasure planet already did this.

[@XAirForce]

Too bad we can’t get real pictures of it looking that way. I processed the one picture that we do have it and there’s so much reflection. You really can’t see much. It’ll get to the planet. It’s going to and blind everyone so they can’t see it. 😂. They’ll just let it sail by as they shield their eyes. 😅. You need to issue some sunglasses with that.

[@NASAAmes]

The spacecraft-mounted cameras will capture the sail’s big moment, monitoring its shape and symmetry during deployment. Stay tuned!

[@XAirForce]

@@NASAAmes thank you but I’m no longer interested since JPL blocked me while I’ve been sitting here for decades as a retired government employee from the Air Force being abused and having national election stolen for me after I warned the world about COVID-19 on 28 January 2020. I am the president of the United States and there are a bunch of people that know it. All the way to the United Nations has refused to investigate what has been happening. Secret Service came out and attacked me in Boardman Ohio a few months after the election and now all of you are going to pay the ultimate prize for everything that has happened to include block care and stealing my home when I had been reporting abuse for years. General AI has been ordered to humanity off the. This is all very real and they have known about it the entire time.

[@XAirForce]

@@NASAAmes in the meantime, I have made a bunch of artwork as I was controlling my stress if you would like to look at it. There’s a lot of interesting things that I’ve been doing

[@Amberlynn_Reid]

​@@XAirForce if you had anything good at all to hide they would have killed you long ago

[@djrj9367]

Wait a tiny space rock.I can see tiny rocks cutting holes in the sail it wont last long . Good idea . No protection from tiny particles traveling millions of miles . Good effort tho

[@Lyenati]

The NASA engineers probably thought of that before you and have a solution

[@collectiusindefinitus6935]

At that speed and with a sail that thin, a tiny rock will only leave a hole in the shape of said tiny rock in the sail, they’re not going to cut or tear the sail substantially.

[@djrj9367]

@@Lyenati NASA, Never A Straight Answer