Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur cover image

Advanced Spaceship Drive Compendium (Narration Only)

Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur

00:00

The Different Types of Solar Sails

Solar sails operate on the principle that photons of light carry momentum which may be absorbed by opaque objects, transferring that momentum. This allows a sail to quarter sunlight. The weakness of a solar sail is the need for a very large thin sail to reflect enough sunlight to shove a relatively tiny spaceship. Solar sails can also be used to maintain stationary or atypical orbits as with statites. We also antimatter a bladed light sail, the electric solar wind sail, laser sails, magnetic solar wind sail and matter beaming.

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