The Solar Blade solar sail is a spacecraft that utilizes reflected solar pressure as its only means of propulsion and attitude control. The continuous force generated by photons striking the windmill-like sail is sufficient to boost the craft out of Earth's gravity well and, eventually, out of the solar system.
Solar sailing is a revolutionary idea whose time has come.
As the limits of chemical propulsion are reached, solar sailing is increasingly becoming an option for extending mankind's reach into space. The promise of solar sailing in space is in the continuous propulsion derived from natural solar pressure. Although the pressure from the Sun is less than the pressure felt from a piece of paper on an open hand, its persistent push imparts an accumulated thrust greater than rocket propulsion can provide. Solar sailing makes possible exotic missions once thought impractical due to their large propellant requirements. Such missions include dwelling at LaGrange points where the gravity from two celestial bodies cancel each other, hovering over an Earth pole for persistent scientific monitoring, cruising to asteroids, and flying to nearby stars.