Japan has operated a solar sail near the orbit of Venus, several countries and companies are running experiments on using them to make satellites deorbit faster

Japan has operated a solar sail near the orbit of Venus, several countries and companies are running experiments on using them to make satellites deorbit faster, the Planetary Society is launching Lightsail-2 on the next Falcon Heavy, and the Breakthrough Starshot hopes to make scifi a reality and shine a huge laser on tiny chip-scale spaceships to send them to Alpha Centauri. The field has been active.