Overview of Ongoing Solar Sail Projects Worldwide

This briefing provides an overview of worldwide activities in the development of solar sail technology. Work in the USA including the recent launch and deployment of NanoSail D2 is discussed along with several other Cubesat class solar sail demonstrators in Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The Japanese Ikaros project, the first solar sail to acquire quantitative sail performance data is also presented. A new project by
the European Space Agency and Germany (DLR) is underway that will develop and launch three solar sails of increasing size and complexity. The USA is keenly interested in the ESA/DLR Gossamer project to develop solar sail systems. Through this briefing and future interchanges we wish to maintain a dialogue with our international colleagues to advance propellantless in-space propulsion technology.