Sunjammer

[Lohan2008]

Was looking at solar sails on Wikipedia to see how big they are. Next launch has been moved to Jan 2015.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunjammer_(spacecraft)

Sunjammer has a width and height of 38 metres (124 ft), giving it a total surface area of over 1,200 square metres (13,000 sq ft) and making it the largest solar sail as of 2013.[4] Despite its huge surface area, Sunjammer has a thickness of only 5 μm, giving it an extremely low weight of about 32 kilograms (70 lb) and allowing it to be stored in a space the size of a dishwasher.[4] Once in space, the large surface area of the solar sail will allow it to achieve a thrust of about 0.01 Nâ€â€roughly the weight of a sugar packet.

The micrometre is a common unit of measurement for wavelengths of infrared radiation as well as sizes of cells and bacteria.[1]

Frig ! That is thiiiiiiiin

[tom1499]

Yeah, they really are tiny.

[Kryten]

This has just been cancelled due to major delays with producing the actual spacecraft component. NASA will take delivery of the complete sail and may use it for something else in future.