How far are we away from using solar sails?

[Grimlock]

If you seen Star Wars Episode II there is a scene where Count Dooku escaping from his pursuers in a ship that uses Solar Sails.
Now if you are to believe what Discovery Science shows on Star Wars technology Solar sails are actually something people are seriously researching in, and if perfected they could cut months from a trip to Mars and back by using a laser instead of using solar wind to power the sails.

So how far away are we from actually being able to use that technology 10 20 50 maybe even a 100 years??

 

[scalyblue]

I believe that the only bar to using a solar sail is cost; the concept isn't that difficult, anything with enough surface area perpendicular to the sun's rays will be accelerated away from the sun, but getting an object that large up there, even if it were something folding, would be a massive undertaking. Also, nobody has solved the problem of debris punching holes in the sail to my knowledge.

I think we shouldn't give up on the ion drive

 

[Shaedys]

We must simply fold a sheet of sail 40 times!

More seriously, is that actually the most viable way of travelling in space?

 

[Marcus]

The benefit of a solar sail is that it generates acceleration without the need to cart a bunch of fuel around. There are other methods being investigated to use ground based lasers to generate thrust.