Light Sailing with Metamaterials

At present deep space exploration is limited by long transit time and excessive mission costs. Conventional spacecraft make use of chemical or electric engines, which are fundamentally limited. Light sailing is an alternative propulsion which offers a conceptually different approach to space travel. In this talk I will overview our work on solar and laser driven propulsion for space exploration.<br/> <br/>First, I will survey our work on laser driven propulsion. I will show that with relatively moderate laser beams (~1 MW and ~1m aperture), which are available today, novel regimes for spacecraft maneuvering and orbiting on interplanetary and Earth orbital missions emerge. I will discuss nanophotonic designs that optimize the tradeoff between mass, reflectance and a need for a radiative cooling. I will then discuss implications of utilizing smaller and more affordable systems for near-term space exploration and outline a roadmap for future interstellar missions. <br/> <br/>Next, I will highlight an alternative approach for deep space missions with the use of extreme solar sailing. I will demonstrate that lightweight solar sails are potentially capable of reaching &gt;30 AU/year velocities (i.e., more than 8 times faster than the Voyager – fastest space probe ever built), and can pave the way to fast and scalable exploration of the solar system and beyond. I will then survey material challenges associated with such solar sailing and highlight our ongoing experimental and theoretical effort.