Extreme Solar Sails Will Slingshot Around the Sun to 0.1% of Lightspeed | NextBigFuture.com

Solar sails made out of extreme metamaterials, nanostructured and with some ceramics will be able to withstand over 1000 degrees celsius. They will reach slingshot within 2-5 solar radii of the sun, which is 2 to 4 times closer than the Parker solar probe. The solar sails should cost about $10 million per launch and have 50 kilograms of payload. It will be three times faster than the Voyager probe and could reach Jupiter in 5 months. The project update was presented at the NASA NIAC 2020 virtual meeting. The post Extreme Solar Sails Will Slingshot Around the Sun to 1% of Lightspeed first appeared on NextBigFuture.com.