E-Sail Technology: To sail through space, NASA planning to catch solar wind

With its new propellant-free propulsion technology called E-Sail, NASA is planning to catch solar wind to sail through space. The new technology propulsion system named Heliopause Electrostatic Rapid Transport System (HERTS), would consist of 10 to 20 bare aluminum wires extending outward from spacecraft in circular motion.

These E-sail would generate electric field using solar power that would deflect the ionized particles and thereby generate an accelerated force that would propel the vessel.

Its positively charged spokes would repel the protons electrostatically, which would in turn propel the craft. The technology is currently being tested in NASA's High Intensity Solar Environment Test system. This tech-based system will help make use of solar wind to travel into deep space.