NASA to demonstrate world’s largest solar sail

NASA plans to hit the sky, its playground, yet again, this time with the world’s largest solar sail ever conceived. One of the three projects been selected by NASA for the Technology Demonstration Missions, the solar sail measures a whopping 100 square feet (9.29 square meters)and spans 409 square feet, or 38 square meters. The sail could be used to gather orbital debris over a period of several years and included to a satellite’s payload, activating towards the end of the mission dragging the satellite out of its orbit.

With an expected build-time of three years, the solar sail technology could revolutionize the way space missions are powered, deployed and controlled.
[gizmag]