During a parabolic flight over Europe, a small slab of graphene aerogel floated in near-weightlessness while a laboratory laser fired into it. The material moved. Not because of a chemical reaction or ...

Laser pushed sails—ultrathin need reflective structures that are square meters but weight a gram. If the sails and the payload each weigh a gram, such a spacecraft could accelerate to one fifth of the ...

Spacecraft could fly to distant stars using sails with surfaces similar to those of CDs and DVDs to help them stay centered on laser beams, a new study finds. Conventional rockets driven by chemical ...

(Inside Science) — In long distance space travel, traditional rockets would eventually run out of fuel. There is an alternative: Since as early as the 19 th century, scientists have dreamed of ...