Wild Experiment Suggests Lasers and Graphene Could Propel Future Spacecraft

Wild Experiment Suggests Lasers and Graphene Could Propel Future Spacecraft

The innovative material has the potential to revolutionize propulsion in outer space.

Graphene Sails and Ground-Based Lasers: The Radical Physics Behind Pushing Spacecraft Without Fuel

A spacecraft with no engine. No propellant tanks. No chemical combustion of any kind. Just a sheet of carbon atoms, one layer thick, catching a beam of light fired from the ground — and accelerating to speeds that would make conventional rockets look quaint. That’s not science fiction anymore. It’s a laboratory result. Researchers at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands have demonstrated, for the first time, that laser light can pro…