Abstract
The Gossamer Spacecraft Initiative is a new NASA program to begin long-range development of enabling technologies for very large, ultra-lightweight structures and apertures. Large apertures include optical, infrared and submillimeter telescopes, photon buckets for optical communications and non-coherent imaging, solar concentrators, and radio frequency antennas. Developments in large ultra-light structures will be focused on one of their most challenging applications-solar sails. Sail structures will include both 3-axis stabilized and spinning. Gossamer spacecraft technology will eventually allow NASA to undertake bold new missions of discovery, such as searching for the signs of life on planets orbiting nearby stars, and sailing through space on beams of light to places beyond our solar system.
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