October 2000
Sailing the seas of outer space
As NASA ponders its commitment to further space exploration, Gregory Benford is working to make space travel more effective and cost-efficient. Benford, a professor in UCI's Department of Physics and Astronomy, is developing a microwave sail prototype made of lightweight layers of carbon. The sail would allow a craft to be propelled from low orbit to high orbit and ultimately into space by microwaves of light, similar to the way wind pushes a sailboat across a body of water. By using these electromagnetic waves, spacecraft employing this technology would need no engine or fuel-the most prohibitive expenses of space missions.
Benford, a NASA consultant for the Mars Outpost project, is testing the sail prototype in collaboration with Jet Propulsion Laboratory researchers. Benford also is an award-winning science fiction author of 25 books. His latest novel, "Worlds Vast & Various," is being published by Harper Collins, and the best-selling "Deep Time" will be released in trade paperback later this year.
Contact: Tom Vasich, (949) 824-6455, [email protected]
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