Graphene solar sail successfully tested in microgravity using lasers

Deep space exploration became a reality the moment Voyager 1 crossed the notional boundary of the solar system in 2012 to explore outer space.

It took the apparatus nearly 35 years and 121 astronomical units (18.1 billion km) to do this.

So, if Voyager were directed to the closest star to us - Alpha Centauri Сb, then with modern technologies the path of the apparatus would take many thousands of years. Therefore, it is necessary to use fundamentally different engines for future flights.

Graphene will help in the conquest of space

As shown by the successful experiments of JAXA IKAROS in 2010 and LightSail 2 in 2019, the use of a sail as a propulsion device for a spacecraft is an extremely promising direction.

The main problem with the existing prototypes was that due to the materials used, scientists could not create a truly large and efficient solar sail.

A light graphene sail with a diameter of 3 mm and a mass of 0.25 mg “floats” when guided by a 1 W laser.

Indeed, in order to effectively use the weak pressure of the luminous flux, the sail must be simply gigantic. (from a couple to several thousand square meters, depending on the ship), and at the same time its mass must be absolutely is minimal.

So, as the director of SCALE Nanotech and concurrently head of GrapheneSail S. J. Cartamil-Bueno, they managed to create a new type of sail, in which the mass is significantly reduced through the use of CVD - graphene. It is used as a film covering the perforated structure of the sail.

How and where the new sail was tested

The tests of the graphene sail were carried out in Germany (Bremen), namely in the ZARM suspension tower.

It is in this unique facility that scientists create a high-quality microgravity environment. The truth is only for a couple of seconds.

During the experiment, a graphene sail was exposed to 1 W lasers, and as a result, the sail began to move with an acceleration of up to 1 m / s2.

What are the prospects

Of course, these are just the first successful experiments, but they already inspire restrained optimism that real prototypes will be created in the near future solar sails, which will be installed on spacecraft, and we will begin an active exploration of both our solar system and the interstellar space.

Moreover, the development of a prototype of a full-fledged propulsion system for spacecraft using graphene sails is already being carried out at the Hessen & Baden-Württemberg Center of the European Space Agency.

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