Steve alerts us to another example of Star Wars fiction becoming a reality. This time around it's Count Dooku's solar sailer. From the BBC.co.uk:

The first attempt to fly a craft pushed by the light of the Sun is on target for an autumn launch.

Experts at the American space agency (Nasa) and the European Space Agency will be watching closely to see if the low-budget mission succeeds. In a privately sponsored venture, the Planetary Society in the United States wants to send a solar sailing ship into orbit around the Earth.

The experiment could pioneer a new generation of space travel using spacecraft that are propelled by the our star's energy in the same way that ships on the sea are pushed by the wind. The technology relies on ultra-thin, mirror-like solar sails that trap individual particles of light from the Sun. In theory, the photons should transfer their energy to the sails, pushing the spacecraft along.

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