Graphene and lasers for space propulsion

An international research team boarded ESA’s 86th parabolic flight campaign in May 2025 with ultralight graphene aerogels, then hit them with light during zero gravity phases to observe their reaction under space-like conditions.

The effect of the laser during the microgravity phases was startling: the graphene samples shot forward instantly.

Accelerating science

Inside a vacuum chamber, a continuous laser beamed on three small cubes made of graphene aerogel. A high-speed camera recorded the action through glass tubes.

Graphene aerogels are ultralight, highly porous materials that merge graphene’s exceptional electrical conductivity with the structural advantages of aerogel architecture. They maintain strong mechanical performance despite their low density.

“The reaction was fast and furious. Before you could even begin to blink, the graphene aerogels experienced large accelerations. It was all over in 30 milliseconds,” explains Marco Braibanti, ESA’s project scientist for the experiment Light‑driven propulsion of graphene aerogels in microgravity.

Researchers at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) in Belgium and Khalifa University in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) led the study.

Under Earth’s gravity conditions, the aerogels barely moved at all. The results, published in Advanced Science, demonstrate that microgravity unlocks the potential of light propulsion for graphene aerogels in terms of velocity, thrust and distance.

Another finding was the ability to control the propulsion by tuning the light beam.

“The stronger the laser, the greater the acceleration. The laser pulse triggers a sharp acceleration peak, after which the aerogels slow down,” adds Marco.

Graphene lights the way

Although still fundamental science, these promising results show that using light to propel graphene aerogels in space is not only possible, but remarkably efficient.

Future space technologies with built-in graphene might include solar sail propulsion and attitude-control for small satellites. Next-generation aerogels could convert light into motion, saving fuel critical for the duration of a space mission and allowing more room for other technologies.

“We are opening the path to a propellant-free propulsion future. Ultralight graphene aerogels are the perfect example of an innovative material created in the lab that could save us large amounts of fuel and hardware in space,” says Ugo Lafont, ESA’s materials’ physics and chemistry engineer.

Previous research into the interaction of light with graphene has revealed a wide spectrum of motion, ranging from levitation and rotation to bulk and nanoscale propulsion.

ESA is currently exploring this potential through the Enable topical team, a working group which is also assessing the full range of benefits related to 2D materials.