NASA to Attempt Historic Solar Sail Deployment

A few years ago, the Planetary Society attempted a mission like NanoSail-D called Cosmos I, but the launch vehicle failed and destroyed the undeployed spacecraft. Montgomery and team believe that NanoSail-D, however, will unfurl four gossamer wings from its pod in the blackness of space like a butterfly from a cocoon: movie.

“The structure is made of aluminum and space-age plastic,” says Montgomery. “The whole spacecraft weighs less than ten pounds. We carry it around in a special suitcase — airplane carry-on luggage size.” Fully opened, the kite-shaped sail spreads out to about 100 square feet of light-catching surface.
“A success would be huge for the future of space exploration,” Montgomery believes.

Not to burst any bubbles — a successful solar sail would be way cool — but “space age” technically just means it was invented after the Sputnik launch in 1957.