Solar Sail Space Craft

A very interesting article in Space.com reminded me of an episode of Star Trek:Deep Space Nine in which Capt. Sisko decides to build a Bajoran lightship in order to prove that the ancient Bajoran culture had been able to travel through space into the Cardassian system long before Cardassians and way before humans for that matter.From the DS9 episode:A Bajoran lightship was a type of early space going vessel that utilized solar sail-powered space flight. These vessels were used by the Bajorans as early as the "16th century" at a time prior to the Fall of their "Bajoran First Republic." Bajorans first traveled from Bajor to Cardassia and established First_contact between the two worlds. For many years the Cardassians disputed this claim, referring to it as a "Bajoran Fairy tale because they refused to admit that the Bajorans had achieved interstellar flight before they had.From Space.com:Solar sails that use sunlight pressure instead of fuel to fly through space have long been touted by space exploration advocates, but the novel space travel method could also be tapped to settle an unproven theory by famed scientist Albert Einstein.A gossamer solar sail would be a prime platform for an experiment that would test the so-called frame-dragging hypothesis in Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, said Roman Kezerashvili, a professor of physics at New York City College of Technology. He presented the experiment concept during the International Symposium on Solar Sailing held here July 21 at the college.Solar sails are reflective arrays just one-fifth the thickness of saran wrap, but can have an area comparable to half the size of a football field. They harness the pressure generated by the sun's light just as a cloth sail catches the wind, propelling a spacecraft as if it was a sailing ship.It is fun to see science fiction and science come together like this and if you have the chance to watch this episode of Star Trek it is worth your time!