Thursday, 14 November 2019

What's the best way to sail from world to world? Electric sails or solar sails?

In the past decade, thousands of planets have been discovered beyond our solar system. This has had the effect of renewing interest in space exploration, which includes the possibility of sending spacecraft to explore exoplanets. Given the challenges involved, a number of advanced concepts are currently being explored, like the time-honored concept of a light sail (as exemplified by Breakthrough Starshot and similar proposals).