solar sail

American  

noun

1. Aerospace. a design concept for spacecraft propulsion consisting of a very thin, very large sheet of highly polished material that would be driven by the pressure of sunlight.

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solar sail British  

noun

1. a device that reflects light particles from the Sun, gaining momentum in the opposite direction to propel spacecraft forwards

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solar sail Scientific  

1. A saillike device that is made of lightweight and highly reflective material and attached to a spacecraft to harness the radiation pressure of the solar wind and light for propulsion.

2. Also called light sail

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Etymology

Origin of solar sail

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

The concept is similar to a solar sail spacecraft, forms of which have already been deployed in space.

From Los Angeles Times

As 'Oumuamua whizzed by the Sun, it accelerated at a rapid speed, suggesting that it was propelled by sunlight as a solar sail spacecraft might have been — a type of spacecraft that would, indeed, be shaped like a disk.

From Salon

Some will map ice on the lunar surface, one will deploy a giant solar sail and head off to an asteroid, and one will attempt to land on the Moon.

From The Verge

Also in the clear: a solar sail demo targeting an asteroid.

From Seattle Times

Freed from Earth’s gravitational field and unimpeded by atmospheric drag—two forces that otherwise act to resist a solar sail’s equal and opposite reactions to the constant rain of photons—momentum gradually builds up, eventually allowing sailcraft to reach surprisingly high speeds while using scarcely any propellant at all.

From Scientific American