Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have devised a new method of Solar Sail propulsion that could make the trip from Earth to Mars in just one month.

Researchers from nine nations and from various groups across the United States met recently to discuss progress on laser propulsion or "beam solar sailing."

Researchers gave their suggestions on how we might explore other star systems to the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston. They discussed the impact interstellar travel would have on societal and genetic evolution.

The Planetary Society, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to privately funded eploration of space, is set to launch a 31-minute sub-orbital test flight of Cosmos 1, its solar sail propulsion system. Solar sails work much like the sails on boats, except they are pushed by sunlight instead of wind.

A private space interest organization has announced plans to develop and deploy the first space solar sail. The mission will be carried out by a unique, privately funded Russian-American space venture.

In two breakthrough developments, NASA scientists have beamed microwaves and laser energy to 'fill' lightweight sails in laboratory demonstrations of how these technologies might provide propulsion for interstellar exploration.

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama is hard at work developing gigantic 'light sails' that can harness the gentle winds of solar radiation and drag an accompanying craft beyond the reaches of our solar system. Recent advances in materials and, most importantly, a shift in attitude, could see an old science fiction dream become a reality by the end of this decade.

Mautner, a senior research fellow at Lincoln University in Canterbury, New Zealand, advocates sending packets of freeze-dried microbial life cruising on solar sails through space, spreading the DNA of terrestrial life beyond Earth.