A long-time space travel concept becomes reality.
From the link:
Japan’s IKAROS has rolled out its solar sail, the first ever deployed in space. JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, achieved the feat by rotating the craft rapidly and spinning the sail out by centrifugal force. IKAROS is the world’s first solar-powered spacecraft.
Hit the link up there for more illustrations.
Via KurzweilAI.net — Space-based solar collection gets a lot of ink and now it looks like it might even get a test run.
apan eyes solar station in space as new energy source AFP, Nov. 8, 2009 The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to collect solar power in space and send it to Earth by 2030 using laser beams or microwaves, and has created a consortium (the Institute for Unmanned SpaceExperiment Free Flyer) that includes Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Electric, NEC, Fujitsu and Sharp.
(Japan Institute for Unmanned Space Experiment Free Flyer)
David Kirkpatrick 