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In this paper, we explore from a conceptual standpoint the possibility ofusing natural astrophysical sources to accelerate spacecrafts to relativisticspeeds. We focus on light sails and electric sails, which are reliant onmomentum transfer from photons and protons, respectively, because these twoclasses of spacecrafts are not required to carry fuel on board. The payload isassumed to be stationed near the astrophysical source, and the sail issubsequently unfolded and activated when the source is functional. Byconsidering a number of astrophysical objects such as massive stars,microquasars, supernovae, pulsar wind nebulae, and active galactic nuclei, weshow that terminal speeds approaching the speed of light might be realizableunder idealized circumstances provided that sufficiently advanced sailmaterials and control techniques exist. We also investigate the constraintsarising from the sail's material properties, the voyage through the ambientsource environment, and the passage through the interstellar medium. While allof these considerations pose significant challenges to spacecrafts, ouranalysis indicates that they are not insurmountable in optimal conditions.Finally, we sketch the implications for carrying out future technosignaturesearches.

Propulsion of Spacecrafts to Relativistic Speeds Using Natural Astrophysical Sources