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Speed rises, and eventually will build well beyond the 25,000 mph needed to free an object from Earth's gravity. If they handle it properly, ground-based engineers can steer a solar sail back and forth in space, Friedman said, "tacking it, like a sailboat -- although the physics are different."
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it appears the answer to your first question is yes
I think the most astounding part of the project is that it cost $4 million to do... that's pretty cheap considering what NASA spends for a lot of its research. I think we'll start to see more and more private companies do research in space as they find more affordable ways to do it