A 'solar sail' which could be the first step to fossil-fuel free space exploration, has been successfully launched into space.

 

The LightSail – a citizen-funded project from the Planetary Society - captures the momentum of light in its ‘sails’ - large lightweight mirrored surfaces.

 

As light reflects off a sail, most of its force is transferred. The resulting acceleration is small, but continuous.

 

Unlike chemical rockets that provide short bursts of thrust, solar sails thrust continuously and can reach higher speeds over time.

 

Planetary Society CEO Bill Nye said the LightSail would "open new paths beyond earth, using an inexpensive, inexhaustible means of propulsion: photons, solar energy in its purest form.”

 

The sails deploy from a box the size of a loaf of bread into a surface “bigger than your living room,” says Nye.

 

This LightSail journey is a trial run to see whether the sails could be unfurled in space. After the successful test, the Planetary Society hopes to launch a second version in 2016 that will theoretically be able to do some solar sailing.

 

However, the benefits of fuel-free space exploration may be limited by the huge amount of energy needed to get the LightSail into space in the first place.

 

An average space shuttle launch dumped approximately 4.5 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere.

 

While the shuttle is no longer active, the commercial companies that filled this void - such as SpaceX, which will be launching LightSail’s 2016 flight - could result in more ozone destruction than was ever realized by CFCs, according to one space pollution expert.