Solar sail demo packed up to prove new technologies

For less than $1 million, scientists are planning to show off an innovative solar sail experiment beginning with a blastoff from the Alaska frontier Friday, proving new propulsion technologies that could help rid space of unnecessary debris. The NanoSail-D mission will unfurl a 100 square foot polymer sail from a satellite the size of a loaf of bread. Researchers say the sail will harness light pressure from the sun to change its orbit, eventually slowing the craft's speed enough to drop from orbit and burn up in Earth's atmosphere. More

(Source: Space Flight Now - Nov 18)