Solar Sailors

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

This is a list of people who are now or were associated with solar sailing. Please let me know if you would like an entry added, removed, or updated on this page.

See the Bibliography to search for journal articles by some of these authors. Books are listed for each author.

A

• Dana Andrews
  Dana Andrews and Robert Zubrin have done considerable study on magnetic sails, which use a magnetic field to deflect charged particles for propulsion.

B

• Pierre Boulle
  Book: Planet of the Apes
• David Brin
  Book: Project: Solar Sail

C

• Arthur C. Clarke
  Book: Project: Solar Sail

D

• Benjamin Diedrich - ben@solarsails.info
• Alfred W. Differ - adiffer@jpaerospace.com
  Project: Interworld Transport
• K. Eric Drexler
  Eric Drexler invented the high performance solar sail for his MS thesis at the MIT department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. His current field of research is in nanotechnology, as chairman of the Foresight Institute and author of Engines of Creation.
  

F

• Robert L. Forward -- Robert Forward wrote numerous papers on space travel, including many novel solar sail designs and applications. These have included, but are not limited to, microwave sails, designs for flyby, one way, and two way laser driven solar sails, the solar photon thruster, and sail levitated orbits. Robert Forward was most recently a partner and chief scientist of Tethers Unlimited. He died on September 21st, 2002.
  Obituary
  Books: Rocheworld, Martian Rainbow, Timemaster, and others.
• Louis Friedman
  Louis Friedman is the executive director of The Planetary Society.
  Book: Starsailing: Solar Sails and Interstellar Travel

L

• Geoffrey A. Landis - geoffrey.landis@sff.net
  Links:
  • Papers on the web
• Manfred Leipold - manfred.leipold@kayser-threde.de
  Manfred Leipold currently works for Kayser-Threde on a solar sail demonstration mission. Kayser-Threde is the prime contractor/operator of this mission on behalf of the European Space Agency (ESA) and German Aerospace Center (DLR). Older information on this project is available at the DLR Solar Sail Homepage.

M

• Eugene F. Mallove
  Book: The Starflight Handbook
• Gregory L. Matloff
  Book: The Starflight Handbook
• Colin R. McInnes - colin.mcinnes@strath.ac.uk
  Book: Solar Sailing: Technology, Dynamics and Mission Applications
• Esther Morrow
  Publications: Solar Sails at Asteroids: Close Proximity Operations for Scientific Missions
• Patricia Mulligan - Patricia.Mulligan@noaa.gov

N

• Larry Niven
  Book: The Mote in God's Eye

P

• Jonathan Vos Post
  Book: Project: Solar Sail
• Jerry Pournelle
  Book: The Mote in God's Eye

S

• Dorothy M. Souza
  Book: Space Sailing
• Robert L. Staehle - Robert.L.Staehle@jpl.nasa.gov
  Robert Staehle was the president of the World Space Foundation and currently works at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

T

• Fridrikh Tsander
  Fridrikh Tsander was an early Russian space visionary who discussed using large, lightweight mirrors for spacecraft propulsion.
• Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
  Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was an early Russian space visionary who discussed the possibility of propelling spacecraft by using a beam of light like rocket exhaust.

W

• Jerome L. Wright - wright1225@hotmail.com
  Jerome Wright developed a trajectory to rendezvous with Halley's Comet by solar sail in a little over four years from a 1981 launch. Wright joined a JPL project prompted by his work to design a solar sail for a Halley rendezvous. This was the most thorough study of solar sailing to date, which produced much valuable information on solar sailing in general and on specific configurations. Unfortunately, funding was cut for the solar sail in favor of ion engine propulsion, which was also cut. After the JPL project was canceled, Wright and others started the World Space Foundation, which built square solar sail engineering models and manufacturing equipment. Their design was to be launched on a race against other sail designs by groups around the world in a race to the moon and mars.
  Book: Space Sailing

Z

• Robert Zubrin - rzubrin@marssociety.org
  Robert Zubrin and Dana Andrews have done considerable study on magnetic sails, which use a magnetic field to deflect charged particles for propulsion. Robert Zubrin is a founder of the Mars Society, president of Pioneer Astronautics, and is on the executive commitee of the National Space Society.