The Planetary Society, a non-profit organization focused on space exploration, has successfully transferred their LightSail 2 spacecraft from one orbit to another using only the power of sunlight, a first. The recent success not only proves the effectiveness of solar sailing technology, but also opens up a new, more cost-effective way to propel small spacecraft.
The Planetary Society has been working on a solar sailing technology for roughly two decades. The idea behind solar sailing is that instead of using propellant to maneuver a spacecraft, engineers can use the radiation pressure of sunlight to push the spacecraft around, with the help of a large (340 square feet) Mylar sheet as their sail.
