Editing Solar sail (section)

== In popular culture ==
[[File:Light Sail Probe to Alpha Centauri (26338959171).jpg|thumb|Artist rendering of an interstellar light sail space craft]]
[[Cordwainer Smith]] gives a description of solar-sail-powered spaceships in "The Lady Who Sailed The Soul", published first in April 1960.

[[Jack Vance]] wrote a short story about a training mission on a solar-sail-powered spaceship in "Sail 25", published in 1961.

[[Arthur C. Clarke]] and [[Poul Anderson]] (writing as Winston P. Sanders) independently published stories featuring solar sails, both stories titled "Sunjammer," in 1964. Clarke retitled his story "The Wind from the Sun" when it was reprinted, in order to avoid confusion.<ref>[http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/adv_search_results.cgi?USE_1=title_title&O_1=exact&TERM_1=Sunjammer&C=AND&USE_2=title_copyright&O_2=exact&TERM_2=1964&USE_3=title_title&O_3=exact&TERM_3=&USE_4=title_title&O_4=exact&TERM_4=&USE_5=title_title&O_5=exact&TERM_5=&USE_6=title_title&O_6=exact&TERM_6=&USE_7=title_title&O_7=exact&TERM_7=&USE_8=title_title&O_8=exact&TERM_8=&USE_9=title_title&O_9=exact&TERM_9=&USE_10=title_title&O_10=exact&TERM_10=&ORDERBY=title_title&ACTION=query&START=0&TYPE=Title Sunjammer], ISFDB.</ref>

In [[Larry Niven]] and [[Jerry Pournelle]]'s 1974 novel ''[[The Mote in God's Eye]]'', aliens are discovered when their laser-sail propelled probe enters human space.

A similar technology was the theme in the ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' episode "[[Explorers (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)|Explorers]]". In the episode, Lightships are described as an ancient technology used by [[Bajoran]]s to travel beyond their solar system by using light from the Bajoran sun and specially constructed sails to propel them through space ({{cite episode|title=Explorers|series=Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|season=3|number=22}}).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708534/?ref_=ttep_ep22|title="Star Trek Deep Space Nine" Explorers (TV Episode 1995) - IMDB|website=IMDB|date=8 February 2018}}</ref>

In the 2002 ''[[Star Wars]]'' film ''[[Attack of the Clones]]'', the main villain [[Count Dooku]] was seen using a spacecraft with solar sails.<ref>{{cite book|title=Star Wars: Attack of the Clones Incredible Cross-Sections|isbn=9780789485748|author=Curtis Saxton|publisher=DK Publishing|date=2002}}</ref>

In the 2009 film ''[[Avatar (2009 film)|Avatar]]'', the spacecraft which transports the protagonist [[Jake Sully]] to the Alpha Centauri system, the ''ISV Venture Star'', uses solar sails as a means of propulsion to accelerate the vehicle away from the Earth towards Alpha Centauri.

In the third season of [[Apple TV+]]'s [[alternate history]] TV show ''[[For All Mankind (TV series)|For All Mankind]]'', the fictional NASA spaceship Sojourner 1 utilises solar sails for additional propulsion on its way to Mars.

In the final episode of the first season of 2024 [[Netflix]] TV show, ''[[3 Body Problem (TV series)|3 Body Problem]]'', one of the protagonists, Will Downing, has his [[Cryonics |cryogenically]] frozen brain launched into space toward the oncoming Trisolarian spaceship, using solar sails and [[nuclear pulse propulsion]] to accelerate it to a fraction of the speed of light.