[Interview] Solar Sail Propulsion: Reality VS Fiction with Les Johnson

Universe Today Podcast

Les Johnson is the Principle Investigator with NASA's upcoming Near-Earth Asteroid Scout mission that will fly on the SLS and test solar sail navigation. But at the same time, he's a science fiction author. So, in this interview, we discussed both these sides of his life.

📖 Les Johnson's Books: https://www.lesjohnsonauthor.com/

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• 00:00 - Intro
• 01:01 - Meet Les Johnson
• 02:19 - Working at NASA and being a science fiction writer at the same time
• 06:50 - Solar sails proplusion
• 10:29 - Flying towards the Sun with solar sails
• 14:32 - Near-Earth Asteroid Scout mission flying on the SLS
• 21:07 - Why so few solar sails are used now
• 27:07 - What's the future of solar sails
• 39:07 - Methods of interstellar exploration
• 53:02 - Role of science fiction in modern space exploration
• 01:00:10 - Outro

📺 VIDEO VERSION
https://youtu.be/vZhDbzdqAWQ

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