Follow Up Comments on Japan's Ikaros Mission to Venus

Japan's space agency successfully demonstrated that a space-sail capturing solar photons could push a satellite forward through the void during its 2009-2010 mission to Venus. It was a prototype of what some believe could be much larger solar sails of kilometers in size that could eliminate the need to carry lots of rocket fuel forward.

Sure one might prefer a more advanced technology from science fiction able to use a quantum entanglement drive able to move a ship forward through space by tying into virtual particles and hydrogen molecules ahead-even one able to redirect gravitons around a vessel as superconductors can move a magnetic field around it in the well known Meisner effect, yet solar sails and a number of other alternative space propulsion systems are closer tothe here and now-even if still in the future. M. Kaiku mentions several of these in 'Physics of the Future'.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/05/100517-science-space-solar-sail-japan-ikaros-venus/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IKAROS

http://www.planetary.org/explore/topics/ikaros/