For the first time, NASA is preparing to send into orbit a small satellite that can be propelled by solar sails. When light particles from the sun strike the surface of the sail, the energy is transferred to it, providing a propulsive force that moves the satellite through space. The NanoSail-D will be aboard SpaceX's Falcon 1, rescheduled to launch in the beginning of August. This would be a precursor to The Planetary Society's Cosmos 2 sail. While a sail starts off slowly, over time it builds up significant speed, of course without carrying fuel. ...it took the Voyager probes 30 years to get to the edge of the solar system where they are still hurtling outward further every day. Although slower to get started, a solar sail could catch up with a Voyager spacecraft in a single decade. A sail could also be powered via a laser from earth. Sail tech has been used in smaller ways over the years with satellites and probes, but how to deploy larger sail is the problem. There's a Nano-D mission dashboard here.

starring Wernher von Braun.

I love the idea that NASA engineers have a skunk works project for another rocket they feel is better than the planned Ares system, called DIRECT. Like the shuttle launcher, each Jupiter rocket would have a liquid fuel tank and two solid rocket boosters. But unlike the shuttle system, Jupiter's liquid fuel tank would have two or three engines at its base and would carry its payload on top rather than on its side - a design that would prevent any insulating foam it might shed from damaging the crew capsule. Using only one type of rocket, the DIRECT team says, could save NASA $35 billion dollars because it's easier to develop and maintain a single type of vehicle. more, more