The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is currently examining a prototype solar sail,
called L’Garde. Carnegie Mellon and Washington
University are currently studying
solar sail concepts.
How solar sails will feature in the exploration of space is a question only
time will give the answer to. It could be that some day in the future that
galleons of the sky will ply the gulf between planets, propelled by gigantic
sails, bearing cargos and passengers between Earth and human settlements that
may be built at such places as Mars. In a way, the history of space flight
could be the reverse of the history of ocean travel. The first ships would be
powered by engines, only to be superseded by solar sail propelled ships. The
age of the sailing ship will come again, in an ocean unimagined by the mariners
who spent their lives on the oceans of our world.