What do you think of the new planets NASA has recently discovered that may harbor life?

Amusingly, it's actually not all that new an idea. Using photonic pressure as a propulsion assist has already been used in a small handful of NASA spacecraft. The solar sail concept, which you're referring to, is just scaling it up and possibly giving it an external assist. (Lasers shot into the sail, allowing it to accelerate further and not need to rely on sunlight which will be effectively nonexistent in interstellar space.) Really neat stuff.