LightSail 2 Successfully Deploys Solar Sail

[NeoGreen]

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/jason-davis/ls2-deploys-sail.html

LightSail 2 Successfully Deploys Solar Sail
Jason Davis July 24, 2019

The Planetary Society’s LightSail 2 spacecraft has successfully deployed the large, aluminized Mylar sail it will use to raise its orbit solely with sunlight.

Flight controllers at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in California commanded the spacecraft to deploy its solar sails yesterday at about 11:47 PDT (18:47 UTC). Images captured during the deployment sequence and downloaded today show the 32-square-meter sail, which is about the size of a boxing ring, deploying as the spacecraft flew south of the continental United States.

Sail deployment marks a major milestone for the LightSail 2 mission, which aims to demonstrate solar sailing as a viable method of propulsion for CubeSats—small, standardized satellites that have lowered the cost of space exploration.

“Yesterday, we successfully set sail on beams of sunlight,” said Bill Nye, CEO of The Planetary Society. “Thanks to our team and our tens of thousands of supporters around the world, the dream started by The Planetary Society’s founders more than 4 decades ago has taken flight.”

Bruce Betts, Planetary Society chief scientist and LightSail program manager, added, “We’re ecstatic! The mission team has worked for years to get to this moment when we can start solar sailing.”

LightSail 2 Sail Deployment From Camera 1
View of the deployment of half of LightSail 2's square sail from Camera 1, which happened on 23 July 2019 at 18:47 UTC. The animation runs at about 100 times actual speed.

LightSail 2 Sail Deployment From Camera 2
View of the deployment of half of LightSail 2's square sail from Camera 2, which happened on 23 July 2019 at 18:47 UTC. The animation runs at about 100 times actual speed.

[littlemissmartypants]

1. If I'm not mistaken Carl Sagan is the originator of this idea.

He, no doubt, would be pleased to hear about this.

[Wounded Bear]

2. I remember reading about solar sails in SciFi back in the 60's...

Can't say that it wasn't an original Carl Sagan idea, but it remember at least a couple of stories including the tech.

Nice to see this happening.