{"id":17973,"date":"2019-07-31T18:42:42","date_gmt":"2019-07-31T10:42:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/planetary-society-hails-mission-success-after-lightsail-2-solar-sail-raises-its-orbit\/"},"modified":"2019-07-31T18:42:42","modified_gmt":"2019-07-31T10:42:42","slug":"planetary-society-hails-mission-success-after-lightsail-2-solar-sail-raises-its-orbit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/planetary-society-hails-mission-success-after-lightsail-2-solar-sail-raises-its-orbit\/","title":{"rendered":"Planetary Society hails \u2018mission success\u2019 after LightSail 2 solar sail raises its orbit"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This image was taken during the LightSail 2 sail deployment sequence on July 23. Baja California and Mexico are visible in the background. This image has been de-distorted and color corrected. (Planetary Society Photo \/ CC BY-NC 3.0)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It may be \u201cmission accomplished\u201d for the Planetary Society\u2019s solar sail experiment, but its privately funded LightSail 2 mission is far from over.<\/p>\n

Five weeks after LightSail 2\u2019s launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, the nonprofit membership society celebrated the spacecraft\u2019s ability to raise the highest point of its orbit by a little more than a mile (1.7 kilometers), using the force of sunlight pressing against its 18.4-foot-wide, 4.5-micron-thick reflective Mylar sails.<\/p>\n

Demonstrating solar sail steerability was the point of the decade-long campaign to build and fly LightSail 2 and its predecessor, LightSail 1. The project\u2019s estimated $7 million cost was covered by contributions from Planetary Society members and other donors.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn behalf of the tens of thousands of people around the world who came together to help the dream of solar sailing move forward, we\u2019re thrilled to declare mission success for LightSail 2,\u201d Planetary Society chief scientist Bruce Betts, who serves as program manager for LightSail, told journalists today during a teleconference.<\/p>\n

The sail maneuvered itself in response to commands beamed up from Earth to take advantage of the push of the sun\u2019s photons, in a style that\u2019s similar to sailboats taking advantage of the wind.<\/p>\n

LightSail 2 isn\u2019t the first solar sail to get a push from the sun: That distinction belongs to Japan\u2019s Ikaros spacecraft, which experienced a sunlight-powered course change in 2010. But the Planetary Society\u2019s executive director, Bill Nye (the Science Guy), said LightSail 2 showed that the job could be done using a 3U CubeSat spacecraft that\u2019s about the size of a loaf of bread.<\/p>\n

\"Solar
This image was taken during the LightSail 2 sail deployment sequence on July 23. The sail is almost fully deployed here and appears warped near the edges due to the spacecraft\u2019s 185-degree fisheye camera lens. The image has been color corrected and some of the distortion has been removed. The sun is visible at center. (Planetary Society Photo \/ CC BY-NC 3.0)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If the technology can be perfected, solar sailing could be suitable for a wide range of fuel-free space applications \u2014 for example, keeping spacecraft steady above Earth\u2019s poles or at gravitational balance points in deep space. Sail-borne spacecraft could also be directed from one solar system destination to another, or out of the solar system altogether.<\/p>\n

Nye said his favorite solar sailing destination would be the planet next door.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d ferry cargo to Mars and look for signs of life, and change the course of human history. How about that?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Nye noted that the late astronomer Carl Sagan, one of the Planetary Society\u2019s co-founders, promoted the idea of using a solar sail to send a spacecraft to Comet Halley back in the 1970s. Sagan happened to be one of Nye\u2019s mentors. \u201cI\u2019ve been charmed or thrilled by this idea ever since I heard about it 40 years ago,\u201d Nye said.<\/p>\n

LightSail 2 unfurled its tightly packed sail a week ago, after a series of orbital checkouts. Purdue aerospace engineer David Spencer, LightSail 2\u2019s mission manager, said the orbit was shifted in a series of steps. The biggest step increased the spacecraft\u2019s maximum orbit by a little more than 900 meters (half a mile).<\/p>\n

Spencer said LightSail 2\u2019s capabilities would undergo further testing during maneuvers that are due to continue through August. But there\u2019s a limit: Every time there\u2019s a rise in the maximum altitude of LightSail 2\u2019s elliptical orbit (known as the apogee) there\u2019s a corresponding drop in the minimum altitude on the other side of the orbit (known as the perigee).<\/p>\n

\u201cFor simplicity, the plan was never to circularize the orbit, only to raise apogee by thrusting on one side of the orbit, which also drops perigee,\u201d the Planetary Society\u2019s Jason Davis explained in a tweet.<\/p>\n