Famed science communicator and astronomer Carl Sagan promoted the idea of the LightSail in the 1970s, and the space organization he cofounded is bringing that concept to life.
"Imagine it: unlimited free energy from the Sun will provide cubesats with propulsion and revolutionize access to space for low-cost citizen projects — projects like ours or by teams of students and faculty at universities," Nye said in a statement.
The technology, he said, "means that spacecraft, especially small ones like CubeSats, won't have to carry heavy fuels into orbit, and that the acceleration will be continuous."
Instead of converting the Sun's energy to usable electricity like traditional solar-powered space vehicles, a fully functional LightSail will coast on the sun's rays, moving its sail to and fro to make sure the solar radiation is constantly propelling it in the direction it wants to go. In other words, it surfs through space without burning fuel.