--- title: LightSail 2: The 100 Best Inventions of 2019 description: Find out why LightSail 2 is one of the best inventions of 2019. canonical: https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2019/5733080/lightsail-2/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-11-21T01:41:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-02T23:36:41.159Z og:title: LightSail 2: The 100 Best Inventions of 2019 og:description: Find out why LightSail 2 is one of the best inventions of 2019. og:url: https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2019/5733080/lightsail-2/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt57a05535cf7ca63b/698a064086f68e74686edee7/best-inventions-2019-055-lightsail-2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: LightSail 2: The 100 Best Inventions of 2019 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: LightSail 2: The 100 Best Inventions of 2019 twitter:description: Find out why LightSail 2 is one of the best inventions of 2019. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt57a05535cf7ca63b/698a064086f68e74686edee7/best-inventions-2019-055-lightsail-2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Nov 21, 2019 # Sailing on Sunlight LightSail 2 by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff  A major challenge of spaceflight is the weight of fuel, which dramatically increases costs. The [LightSail 2](https://www.planetary.org/) satellite, launched in June, may have proved how to lighten the load. It’s currently flying free using only light as fuel. When photons from sunlight hit its silvery sail, they impart a small force that increases velocity without the need for an engine or thruster. On July 31, LightSail successfully accelerated enough to raise its orbit by 1.25 miles—not much, but a critical proof of concept. —_Jeffrey Kluger_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2019/5733080/lightsail-2/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2019/5733080/lightsail-2/"},"headline":"Sailing on Sunlight","datePublished":"2019-11-21T01:41:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:36:41.159Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2019/5733080/lightsail-2/","keywords":["Best Inventions 2019"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt57a05535cf7ca63b/698a064086f68e74686edee7/best-inventions-2019-055-lightsail-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt57a05535cf7ca63b/698a064086f68e74686edee7/best-inventions-2019-055-lightsail-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2019/5733080/lightsail-2/","name":"Sailing on Sunlight"}}]}] ```