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  • Perspective
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Materials challenges for the Starshot lightsail

Nature Materials volume 17, pages 861–867 (2018)Cite this article

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A Publisher Correction to this article was published on 12 October 2018

A Publisher Correction to this article was published on 16 August 2018

This article has been updated

The Starshot Breakthrough Initiative established in 2016 sets an audacious goal of sending a spacecraft beyond our Solar System to a neighbouring star within the next half-century. Its vision for an ultralight spacecraft that can be accelerated by laser radiation pressure from an Earth-based source to ~20% of the speed of light demands the use of materials with extreme properties. Here we examine stringent criteria for the lightsail design and discuss fundamental materials challenges. We predict that major research advances in photonic design and materials science will enable us to define the pathways needed to realize laser-driven lightsails.

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Fig. 1: Vision for the Starshot nanocraft.
Fig. 2: Materials candidates for the Starshot lightsail.
Fig. 3: Photonic design of the Starshot lightsail.
Fig. 4: Absorption mechanisms and values.
Fig. 5: Sail design and stability.

Change history

  • 12 October 2018

    In the version of this Perspective originally published, Fig. 1 was missing the following credit line from the caption: ‘Background image from ESA/Hubble (A. Fujii).’ This has now been corrected in the online versions of the Perspective.

  • 16 August 2018

    In the version of this Perspective originally published, the titles of the references were missing; all versions have now been amended to include them.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Physics and Materials Science, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

    Harry A. Atwater, Artur R. Davoyan, Ognjen Ilic, Deep Jariwala, Michelle C. Sherrott & Joeson Wong

  2. Department of Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

    Cora M. Went & William S. Whitney

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  1. Harry A. Atwater
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Atwater, H.A., Davoyan, A.R., Ilic, O. et al. Materials challenges for the Starshot lightsail. Nature Mater 17, 861–867 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-018-0075-8

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