{"id":202348,"date":"2025-04-19T02:47:21","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T16:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?p=836329"},"modified":"2025-04-19T02:47:21","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T16:47:21","slug":"concept-demonstration-of-directed-energy-propulsion-with-metasurface-lightsails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=202348","title":{"rendered":"Concept Demonstration of Directed Energy Propulsion with Metasurface Lightsails"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"\" class=\"padding-top-5 padding-bottom-3 width-full maxw-full hds-module hds-module-full wp-block-nasa-blocks-article-intro\">\n<div class=\"width-full maxw-full article-header\">\n<div class=\"margin-bottom-2 width-full maxw-full\">\n<p class=\"label carbon-60 margin-0 margin-bottom-3 padding-0\">1 min read<\/p>\n<h1 class=\"display-48 margin-bottom-2\">Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/ecf-2024-quadchart-ilic.pdf?emrc=7a41a6\">ECF 2024 Quadchart Ilic.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Ognjen Ilic<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>University of Minnesota<\/em><\/p>\n<p>This effort will aim to demonstrate the feasibility of directed-energy propulsion through a combination of computational simulations and prototype testing. The project will model the interactions between lightsail material and a laser beam that can be pointed at the sail to propel the spacecraft. The results of the modeling will be used to fabricate an optimized sail for testing with a 30W laser. A successful demonstration would pave the way for ultrafast spaceflight within and beyond the solar system.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?p=824191&amp;preview=1&amp;_ppp=8e04c14982\">Back to ECF 2024 Full List<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"\" class=\"nasa-gb-align-full width-full maxw-full padding-x-3 padding-y-0 article_a hds-module hds-module-full wp-block-nasa-blocks-credits-and-details\">\n<section class=\"padding-x-0 padding-top-5 padding-bottom-2 desktop:padding-top-7 desktop:padding-bottom-9\">\n<div class=\"grid-row grid-container maxw-widescreen padding-0\">\n<div class=\"grid-col-12 desktop:grid-col-2 padding-right-4 margin-bottom-5 desktop:margin-bottom-0\">\n<div class=\"padding-top-3 border-top-1px border-color-carbon-black\">\n<div class=\"margin-bottom-2\">\n<h2 class=\"heading-14\">Share<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"padding-bottom-2\">\n<ul class=\"social-icons social-icons-round\">\n<li class=\"social-icon social-icon-x\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a 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aria-hidden=\"true\"><path d=\"M4.98 3.5c0 1.381-1.11 2.5-2.48 2.5s-2.48-1.119-2.48-2.5c0-1.38 1.11-2.5 2.48-2.5s2.48 1.12 2.48 2.5zm.02 4.5h-5v16h5v-16zm7.982 0h-4.968v16h4.969v-8.399c0-4.67 6.029-5.052 6.029 0v8.399h4.988v-10.131c0-7.88-8.922-7.593-11.018-3.714v-2.155z\"\/><\/svg><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n<li class=\"social-icon social-icon-rss\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/feed\/\" aria-label=\"Subscribe to RSS feed.\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 800 800\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><path d=\"M493 652H392c0-134-111-244-244-244V307c189 0 345 156 345 345zm71 0c0-228-188-416-416-416V132c285 0 520 235 520 520z\"\/><circle cx=\"219\" cy=\"581\" r=\"71\"\/><\/svg><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"grid-col-12 desktop:grid-col-5 padding-right-4 margin-bottom-5 desktop:margin-bottom-0\">\n<div class=\"padding-top-3 border-top-1px border-color-carbon-black\">\n<div class=\"margin-bottom-2\">\n<h2 class=\"heading-14\">Details<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"grid-row margin-bottom-3\">\n<div class=\"grid-col-4\">\n<div class=\"subheading\">Last Updated<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"grid-col-8\">Apr 18, 2025<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"grid-row margin-bottom-3\">\n<div class=\"grid-col-4\">\n<div class=\"subheading\">Editor<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"grid-col-8\">Loura Hall<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"grid-col-12 desktop:grid-col-5 padding-right-4 margin-bottom-5 desktop:margin-bottom-0\">\n<div class=\"padding-top-3 border-top-1px border-color-carbon-black \">\n<div class=\"margin-bottom-2\">\n<h2 class=\"heading-14\">Related Terms<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<ul class=\"article-tags\">\n<li class=\"article-tag\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/early-career-faculty-ecf\/\">Early Career Faculty (ECF)<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"article-tag\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/space-technology-research-grants\/\">Space Technology Research Grants<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ECF 2024 Quadchart Ilic.pdf Ognjen Ilic University of Minnesota This effort will aim to demonstrate the feasibility of directed-energy propulsion through a combination of computational simulations and prototype testing. The project will model the interactions between lightsail material and a laser beam that can be pointed at the sail to propel the spacecraft. The results [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16401,16400],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-202348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-early-career-faculty-ecf","category-space-technology-research-grants"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=202348"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":202349,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202348\/revisions\/202349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=202348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=202348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=202348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}