FYI Solar Sailing

Cosmos 1, funded by the Planetary Society, made an unsuccessful launch from a submarine on June 21, 2005. A solar sail spacecraft, Cosmos 1 was designed to fly on the power of sunlight. The sails were made of a mirror-like thin plastic and when unfolded were about as tall as a 10-story building. When launched into space the sails were expected to unfurl and catch not wind, but light particles from the Sun. The particles would bounce off the sails and push the spacecraft forward.
It was theorized that, needing only energy from the Sun, the solar spacecraft could manage longer distances than traditional spacecraft. Therefore, an endless stream of energy could potentially carry a spacecraft to the stars and beyond.

For more information about Cosmos 1, go to http://www.planetary.org.

To read more about solar sail propulsion systems, go to http://www.nasa.gov and enter "solar sailing" in the search box.