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World's Largest Solar Sail to Launch in November 2014. A huge solar sail designed to demonstrate the viability and value of propellant­­­-free propulsion is slated to blast into space in November 2014, mission officials say.

World's Largest Solar Sail to Launch in November 2014

NASA's Sunjammer spacecraft — whose 13,000-square-foot (1,208 square meters) sail will allow it to cruise through the heavens like a boat through the ocean — is scheduled to lift off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida's Cape Canaveral late next year. Sunjammer will be a secondary payload on the Falcon 9, whose main task is launching the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) toward a gravitationally stable location called the Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 1, which lies about 900,000 miles (1.5 million kilometers) from our planet.

Getting to Orbit

Propulsion. Life Support. Nasa plans first 3D printer space launch in 2014. 30 September 2013Last updated at 06:01 ET 3D printing in the International Space Station could reduce the cost and frequency of resupply missions US space agency Nasa is planning to launch a 3D printer into space next year to help astronauts manufacture spare parts and tools in zero gravity.

Nasa plans first 3D printer space launch in 2014

It will be the first time a 3D printer has been used in space and could help reduce the costs of future missions.