Well, this is called a "solar sail", not quite the same thing as a solar sailor, but still pretty cool and bares a resemblance to TRON's Solar Sailor Simulation.

I think there have been other posts about solar sailors, or similar technologies. Funny how they predicted such a thing in TRON - a film ahead of its time in so many ways!

I caught some of the story on my DVR and I thought I'd share the solar sail part of it. The story was much longer, but only a small portion of it focused on the solar sail, and that is what I present to you. Enjoy!

Video - The Solar Sail (2.7MB, QuickTime format - right-click to download, or just click and wait a few)

The satellite it will be used to keep in a somewhat close orbit around the sun will be used to measure the sun's energy particles as they leave the sun and head toward earth in an effort to warn against solar storms that may be damaging to the power grid (to prevent massive black-outs). Interesting stuff... well, to a Science Channel nerd like me. Really, I'm more interested in the satellite technology than preventing black-outs. I love space exploration/utilization and cool new technologies.