KARI develops solar sail deployment devices for deep space missions

On Thursday, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) announced that it successfully developed a solar sail deployment device that enables spacecraft to harness solar wind for propulsion without relying on fuel.

The solar sail, designed and demonstrated by Dr. Cheon Yi-jin’s research team, operates on the principle of photon reflection. Much like a sailboat utilizes wind to move, the solar sail captures momentum from sunlight to propel a spacecraft. This technology offers the advantage of long-duration space travel without fuel constraints, making it a promising solution for deep-space exploration.

The prototype sail spans 10 meters across, surpassing the 9-meter solar sail used in NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3), launched in April 2024.

A key component of this system is the deployment device, designed to store the sail compactly and unfold it in space. Developed in collaboration with a domestic tape measure manufacturer, the sail can be folded into a compact 20 cm by 20 cm unit, allowing it to be mounted on a 12U cube satellite (measuring 31.4 cm in height and weighing 10 kg).

“We will continue follow-up research to enhance Korea’s deep-space exploration capabilities using domestically developed solar sail technology,” said Lee Sang-cheol, director of KARI. “This innovation could also contribute to mitigating space debris in low-Earth orbit, such as defunct satellites at the end of their missions.”


장은지기자 jej@donga.com