http://inhabitat.com/2010/04/28/japa...il-spacecraft/
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Originally Posted by the article
Though solar sail-powered crafts have been used before, Ikaros is the first to attempt to enter deep space. The craft’s 46-foot sails come equipped with solar cells thinner than a human hair. When solar particles hit the cells, they generate power for Ikaros. Mission controllers on the ground will steer the craft by adjusting the sails’ angles, ensuring optimal amounts of radiation are reaching the solar cells.
Ikaros’s pricetag is in the realm of $16 million dollars. And while it’s certainly an ambitious project, there are no guarantees the fuel-free space explorer will work. A rocket will transport Ikaros to space on May 18th, along with Japan’s first satellite to Venus.
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When I was a kid in the 50's and 60's I read all of the "
Tom Swift, Jr." series of books about a teenaged inventor. (There had been a series of earlier books about Tom's dad that appeared in the 1930's along with the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew series.) Tom invented a number of spacecraft that used "sails" and solar pressure to travel, detailed in
Tom Swift and the Cosmic Astronauts (1960). Funny to see how that's actually coming to pass.