[Interview+] Two Football Fields of Solar Sail in One Rocket | NIAC 2026

BONUS PART STARTS AT 25:44

Watch here (with no ads) or on YouTube https://youtu.be/B8xbSUstIhA

🟣 Guest: Dr. Artur Davoyan https://samueli.ucla.edu/people/artur-davoyan/

Solar sails are great. It's a propulsion method that doesn't require carrying fuel. But the need to be really big to be efficient. How do you fold them on Earth and unfold in space? What's a reliable way to do that? NASA recently awarded a NIAC grant specifically for that.

📜 Coilable Stacked Solar Sails for Very High delta-V Missions https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/stmd/niac/niac-studies/coilable-stacked-solar-sails-for-very-high-delta-v-missions/

👉 All 2026 NIAC Selections https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/stmd/niac/niac-studies/niac-2026-selections/

• 00:00 Intro

• 01:31 Solar sail as a propulsion method

• 25:44 Alternative propulsion methods

• 38:38 Current obsessions

• 44:54 Final thoughts