Statites & Quasites

We now have around 5000 satellites in orbit of the Earth and all of them are compelled to follow orbital paths dictated by Johannes Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion, first written down in the early 17th century. Could there be a way to hack the orbital physics and break away from Kepler's Laws? Today we'll explore a novel space technology called statites, and a twist on it we're calling quasites, that could very well do exactly this.

This video is based on research conducted at the Cool Worlds Lab at Columbia University, New York. You can now support our research program directly here

The paper I put together can be found at:

► Kipping, David (2019), "Transiting Quasites as a Possible Technosignature", submitted

References cited:

► Robert Forward (submitted 1989, published 1993), “Statitespacecraft that utilizes sight pressure and method of use”, US Patent 5183225A

► McInnes & Simmons (1992)“Solar Sail Halo Orbits Part I Heliocentric Case”, Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, 29, 466

► McInnes & Simmons (1992)“Solar Sail Halo Orbits Part II Geocentric Case”, Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, 29, 472

► Baig & McInnes (2010), “Light levitated geostationary cylindrical orbits are feasible”, Journal of Guidance, Control and Dynamics, 33, 782

Video materials and graphics used:

► Analemma visualization clip from spaceborne

► Lightsail animations by the Planetary Societyand

► IKAROS footage courtesy of JAXA and online via

► Kepler11 orbital animation by NASA JPL

Music used:

► Music from Neptune Flux, "We Were Never Meant to Live Here" by Chris Zabriskie (); licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license ()

► Cylinder Eight () by Chris Zabriskie (); licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license ()

► Background song 3 is "Waking Up" by Atlas, licensed through SoundStripe.com

► Music from Neptune Flux, "We Were Never Meant to Live Here"

► Music from Neptune Flux, "The Oceans Continue to Rise"

► Music from Honor, "The Sun Is Scheduled to Come Out Tomorrow"

► Outro music is a synthesized cover of "Final Frontier" by 伍庭曄 (original by Thomas Bergersen)