Sunlight Reflected by a Solar Sail

This lesson shows how to control the light that reflects off of a solar sail.

The yellow boxes show the portion of sunlight absorbed and reflected by the sail.

The arrows show the directions and amounts of sunlight absorbed and reflected by the sail.

You can change where the reflected light shines by steering the sail.

Skip intro

Sunlight Reflected by a Solar Sail

Challenges:

Sun incidence 0 deg
Rotation about sun 0 deg
Absorbed 100 %

Help

  • Keyboard and Mouse:
    • Zoom by rolling the mouse wheel up and down, or holding the middle mouse button and moving up and down.
    • Rotate the view by holding the left mouse button, and moving the mouse left, right, up, and down.
    • Tilt the sail by pressing the up and down arrow keys.
    • Rotate the sail by pressing the left and right arrow keys.
  • Touchscreen:
    • Zoom in and out by putting two fingers on the screen and pinching or spreading them apart.
    • Rotate the view by sliding one finger left, right, up, or down.
    • Tilt the sail by tapping the yellow up and down arrows.
    • Rotate the sail by tapping the yellow left and right arrows.
  • Reload to see the introduction again and change the target.