To reach Earth’s closest star system, Alpha Centauri, scientists are building a laser-powered spacecraft. To pull off ...

We raised it about 800 meters, I believe, over that month-long timeframe,” said David Spencer, LightSail project manager and mission system manager for NASA’s Mars Sample Return Campaign.

“This study underscores the potential of neural topology optimization to achieve innovative and economically viable lightsail designs, crucial for next-generation space exploration.” The researchers’ ...

LightSail 2's 3.5-year mission came to an end on Nov. 17 when the sunshine-riding craft burned up upon reentry to Earth's atmosphere.

Earlier this week, the man formerly known as the “Science Guy” launched a Kickstarter campaign with a $200K funding goal for the LightSail project, with stretch goals going all the way up to ...

The research was conducted in conjunction with the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative, a project with the goal of sending a microchip-sized probe to the Alpha Centauri system, which, at just over 4 ...

It’s still early days, but things are going smoothly. “Mission operations is proceeding very well,” Dave Spencer, LightSail 2 project manager, told Gizmodo earlier today.

"The LightSail 2 mission is a game-changer for spaceflight and advancing space exploration," said Bill Nye, whose Planetary Society funded the project.

The LightSail 2 spacecraft, about the size of a loaf of bread, was launched into orbit in June and unfurled a tinfoil-like solar sail designed to steer and push the spacecraft, using the momentum ...

Nye said. The Lightsail project kicked off in the 1990s, but its first planned prototype, Cosmos 1, was destroyed during a faulty launch on a Russian rocket taking off from a submarine in 2005.