Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hm, say you are designing a light sail for interstellar travel. Instead of having it be made of thin film and actuators capable of swinging these sails like on a sail boat... because actuators are more likely to die after millennia in space: say you instead make the space craft tumble but make the sails able to change their albedo (how reflective they are). If you wanted to make a course correction, you'd alternate h…
Wouldn't a perfect absorber facing the sun directly get half the light pressure of a perfect reflector? I'm assuming after it heats up to equilibrium it emits in all directions (no net momentum from emission, so you're left with absorption only).
And also, maybe some of the stored and emitted heat can be directed somehow.