LightSail 2 mission reaches fiery end after 3-year solar sailing demo

After more than three years circling the Earth, the Planetary Society’s LightSail 2 mission has come to an end following a fiery reentry. The satellite was an important tech demo for the idea of solar sailing, which could eventually propel spacecraft t… Continue reading LightSail 2 mission reaches fiery end after 3-year solar sailing demo

NASA’s new solar sail design bends light to propel spacecraft efficiently

NASA has selected a fascinating new project for further development, known as the Diffractive Solar Sail. By bending light before it hits the sail, this device could propel spacecraft more efficiently than conventional propulsion technologies.Continue … Continue reading NASA’s new solar sail design bends light to propel spacecraft efficiently

Graphene shows promise as solar sail material in ESA tests

ESA engineers are looking at using the world’s thinnest known material to build lighter, more efficient solar sails. By making sails out of one-atom-thick graphene sheets, the space agency aims to make sails capable of propelling unmanned interstellar … Continue reading Graphene shows promise as solar sail material in ESA tests

Lightsail 2 makes history by using sunlight to propel itself onto a new orbital path

It appears to be all smooth sailing for The Planetary Society’s LightSail 2, with the history-making CubeSat now propelling itself through space on sunlight alone. The nonprofit announced today that after unfurling its solar sail last week, t… Continue reading Lightsail 2 makes history by using sunlight to propel itself onto a new orbital path

LightSail 2 deploys its sail and enters solar surfing mode

After launching into orbit aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket last month, The Planetary Society’s LightSail 2 satellite has now entered the most critical phase of its mission. The spacecraft has successfully unfurled its solar sail and begun… Continue reading LightSail 2 deploys its sail and enters solar surfing mode

LightSail 2 CubeSat launches next week to test photon propulsion system that could take us interstellar

Like the seafarers of old, future spacecraft could be getting around under the power of sails. But of course, with no wind in space, these sails are catching another method of propulsion – photons from starlight. The tech is soon due to be de… Continue reading LightSail 2 CubeSat launches next week to test photon propulsion system that could take us interstellar

Credit Card Sized Spacecraft Poised to Sail to Alpha Centauri

As a space-faring species, we’ve done a fair job of exploring and exploiting our local neighborhood. We’re pretty good at putting people and machines into orbit, but our galactic-scale signature is pretty tiny. Our radio signals are no more than 100 light-years away, and our farthest physical artifact isn’t even a light-day away from us 40 years after it launched.

Clearly we need to do a better job of getting out there, and that’s the goal of Breakthrough Initiatives’ Starshot program, which aims to launch a nano-spacecraft to Alpha Centauri and get it there fast. The program aims to build …read more

Continue reading Credit Card Sized Spacecraft Poised to Sail to Alpha Centauri