Japanese scientists could very well have toasted champagne among each other as they celebrated the successful deployment of their solar sail known as Ikaros. This 200-sq-m (2,100-sq-ft) membrane has been attached to a small disc-shaped spacecraft which was sent to orbit last month via a rocket. Ikaros will be a case study in using sunlight as a simple and efficient means of propulsion, so hopefully it has enough energy reserves to escape from large shadows whenever it travels behind the dark side of some huge planet like Jupiter. If proven successful, this ought to confirm itself to be the primary technique for moving spacecraft around the Solar System without the need for chemical fuels. Looks as though it is something from Count Dooku’s space hangar though.