Aerospace · Recorded milestone

Solar sail flies

Recorded year2010

Japan's IKAROS unfurls a 14-metre square plastic sail on the way to Venus and is pushed by sunlight alone, the first working solar sail between planets.

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Built on

First satelliteRecorded · 1957enables

Led to

A sail carries science to Neptune in two yearsForecast · ~2058enables
Laser-sail interstellar probeForecast · ~2095enables

Sources & evidence

Additional source

Dataset updated 2026-10-18. This individual record has not been separately re-reviewed.