Space  

The Planetary Society’s LightSail test mission successfully completed its primary objective of deploying a solar sail in low-Earth orbit.  The proof-of concept mission could herald a new technique to travel the vast distances of outer space.

The Planetary Society’s LightSail test mission successfully completed its primary objective of deploying a solar sail in low-Earth orbit.. During a ground station pass, the final pieces of an image showcasing LightSail’s deployed solar sails were received on Earth.

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The image above confirms the sails have unfurled, which was the final milestone of a shakedown mission designed to pave the way for a full-fledged solar sail flight next year.

The mission began  with a launch from Cape Canaveral aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. The spacecraft fought its way through software glitches, two signal losses and unexpected battery behavior before finally deploying its solar sails on June 7th.

The LightSail team is now downloading a second camera image from the opposite side of the spacecraft before it reenters Earth’s atmosphere. Because LightSail was directly between the sun and Earth at the time of image acquisition on June 8, it is believed the second photograph may include a view of Earth.

Next, engineers may “walk out” the sail booms to increase the tension on the sails, which could further flatten the wavy appearance of the mylar sail. The image also appears slightly distorted due to the camera's fish-eye lens. The team will analyze all sail imagery and any tensioning results in preparation for next year’s flight, when LightSail operates in a higher orbit and uses sunlight for propulsion.


SOURCE  Planetary Society

By 33rd Square

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 Space  

The Planetary Society—a nonprofit composed of space scientists, advocates and enthusiasts will send a miniaturized satellite called a CubeSat into low-Earth orbit on May 20. The LightSail, as it’s called, is propelled by the sun’s energy instead of traditional sources of fuel.

T

he Planetary Society  has already funded its campaign to launch a small spacecraft propelled through space by ultra-thin solar sails.

The private, non-profit organization and its CEO Bill Nye had raised $200,000 on Kickstarter, just a day after they launched their campaign to help fund their LightSail spacecraft.

The small spacecraft is powered by solar sails, designed to capture the momentum from solar energy photons using large, mirrored surfaces. The small, continuous acceleration allows a spacecraft propelled by such sails to reach high speeds over time without carrying or burning any fuel.

The money raised on Kickstarter will cover construction of the spacecraft used in the primary mission, which will launch in 2016.

Altogether, the project is expected to cost $5.46 million. The Planetary Society says it has $1.2 million left to raise.

Now that it has met its initial goal, the group is trying to raise up to $800,000 before June 26 to fund several "stretch" goals:

• - Integration and testing of the spacecraft with the help of the group's partners Ecliptic Enterprises, Georgia Tech, Cal Poly SLO, and Space Science.

• - Covering operations during the four months of the primary mission.

• - Gathering, analyzing and publishing the data with the help of scientific and engineering community.

• - A public awareness and education campaign.

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"I want you to be a part of an epic turning point in space exploration. I invite you to come along on a cosmic journey with me by participating in a mission to sail a spacecraft, a tiny CubeSat no bigger than a breadbox, on beams of light," said Nye in a Facebook post.

Funding backers are being promised rewards such as T-shirts, "ownership" of a square centimeter of the sail and a Raspberry Pi computer installed with software designed to track the spacecraft.

The Planetary Society, which was co-founded by astronomer Carl Sagan, tried to launch the world's first solar sail, Cosmos 1, in 2005, but the launch vehicle failed and it never reached orbit.

NASA also has two upcoming solar sail missions, one to the moon and the other to an asteroid, scheduled for 2018.




SOURCE  CBC

By 33rd Square

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