NASA Solar Sail Propulsion Team successfully deploys two solar sail systems

NASA’s Solar Sail Propulsion Team and industry partners have successfully deployed two 10-meter solar sails in a vacuum environment -- a critical milestone in development of the unique propulsion technology that could enable future deep space missions. Solar sail propulsion uses the Sun’s energy to travel through space. The work is led by the In-Space Propulsion Technology Projects Office at the Marshall Center.

NASA celebrated the opening of a new state-of-the-art laboratory for cutting-edge research into advanced propulsion systems -- technologies that one day could power space vehicles to Mars, to Jupiter or to destinations never before imagined.