The NanoSail-D is the first ever 100-sq-ft solar sail in low-earth orbit, deployed January 20th in Huntsville, Alabama. The image above is an artist representation. It is sponsored by the Army Space and Missile Defense Command, the Von Braun Center for Science and Innovation and Dynetics Inc. It's pretty interesting how the sail was deployed- it ejected itself! It had looked like it was going to be a failure until it spontaneously ejected itself for reasons even the engineers don't fully understand. NanoSail-D is expected to return to Earth in 70-120 days. Its intended purpose is to clean up Earth's atmosphere. Solar sails have been featured in the science fiction of the past, and prominent comics make use of the sun's wind to further tales. Kepler was actually the first suggester of the sail, after observing comet tails affected by solar breeze. The radiation pressure on the sail is actually what it is largely powered by, moreso than the solar wind.
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