A Tethered Miniature Lightsail to Measure the Force Exerted By a Laser Beam (IMAGE)

California Institute of Technology

A Tethered Miniature Lightsail to Measure the Force Exerted By a Laser Beam

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The ultimate goal of the lightsail project is to drive a freely accelerating lightsail that is 10 square meters in area and 100 nm or less in thickness. In this first experimental step, the Caltech team used a tethered miniature lightsail in the lab to measure direct radiation pressure from a laser beam.

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Caltech

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