LightSail is the name of a solar sailing spacecraft that's based on a space travel concept first popularized by Carl Sagan nearly 40 years ago. Although announced earlier this year, it has since been launched as a Kickstarting campaign by Bill Nye himself, who is the leader of The Planetary Society, a non-profit dedicated to the exploration of the solar system.
Already demolishing its $200,000 goal by $745,651 and counting, the solar sailing spacecraft aims to revolutionize access to space for low-cost citizen projects. Bill Nye writes, "Through this proof-of-concept mission, we will use CubeSats [no bigger than a breadbox] to open new paths beyond Earth and one day potentially to other planets with an inexpensive, inexhaustible means of propulsion."
Why This Trend Is Growing
- Solar Sailing Spacecrafts
- Solar sailing spacecrafts offer a revolutionary means of propulsion for space exploration.
- Low-cost Citizen Projects
- Access to space for low-cost citizen projects is being revolutionized through solar sailing spacecrafts.
- Inexpensive, Inexhaustible Propulsion
- Solar sailing spacecrafts provide an inexpensive and inexhaustible means of propulsion for space exploration.
Industries Being Reshaped
- Space Exploration
- Solar sailing spacecrafts present disruptive innovation opportunities in the space exploration industry for low-cost and sustainable exploration.
- Non-profit Organizations
- Non-profit organizations have the opportunity to leverage solar sailing spacecrafts to advance their missions in space exploration at a lower cost.
- Technology and Engineering
- The advancement of solar sailing spacecrafts creates disruptive innovation opportunities in the technology and engineering sectors for the development of new propulsion systems.
