Lightsail Project

The Breakthrough Starshot Initiative established in 2016 sets an audacious goal of sending a spacecraft beyond our Solar System to a neighboring star within the next half-century. In this mission concept, an ultralight spacecraft will be accelerated by laser radiation pressure from an Earth-based source to ~20% of the speed of light, making use of an ultrathin membrane to harvest the photon pressure during acceleration. The lightsail program seeks to develop the materials science, photonic designs, structural mechanics, and other challenges necessary to realize laser-driven lightsails for interstellar exploration.