Eric Mack has been a CNET contributor since 2011. Eric and his family live 100% energy and water independent on his off-grid compound in the New Mexico desert. Eric uses his passion for writing about ...

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket had its first night launch tonight, sending 24 different spacecraft toward three different types of orbit to test a wide range of technologies. The triple-barreled rocket ...

SOLAR sails just can’t find a fair wind. Another space mission intended to prove the technology, which is designed to propel spacecraft using only the pressure of sunlight, has failed to reach space ...

For the first time on the West Coast, a recovered Falcon 9 first stage has made it back to port, intact. Following its role with the successful launch of ten Iridium NEXT satellites, the booster ...

One of the world's greatest examples of conspicuous consumption - the 289-foot sailing yacht Maltese Falcon - modestly described as "the most incredible, influential and groundbreaking yacht the world ...

When he launched Maltese Falcon in 2006, venture capitalist and former Hewlett Packard GM Tom Perkins fulfilled a fantasy that most sailors would never have even dared to dream. The furling sails are ...

The Planetary Society's LightSail 1 experimental solar sail is due to hitch a ride into orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in April 2016, the nonprofit society announced Wednesday. "It's ...

A spacecraft featuring a novel method of propulsion is set to attempt the first controlled flight in Earth's orbit to be powered by solar sails. The LightSail 2—which was developed by the Planetary ...

LightSail-2’s large reflective sails will unfurl in approximately a week, capturing the momentum of light from the sun and using that to propel the spacecraft. The news: SpaceX successfully launched ...

When Falcon 1 takes off in a few weeks, one of the "piggyback" payloads will be a 4 kg (less than 10 lbs) NASA satellite about the size of a bread box that can unfurl into a 10 meter square solar sail ...