NASA, solar sail
NASA's Solar Sail Makes First Contact From Space Before Stretching Its Enormous Wings
Nearly a week after launching to space, a microwave-sized cubesat phoned home for the first time as it prepares to embark on its mission of sailing through low Earth orbit.
NASA Prepares to Unfurl Large Solar Sail From Spacecraft in Orbit
It's not the first experiment of its kind. Japan launched a spacecraft called IKAROS in 2010, which was widely billed as the first spacecraft to be solely propelled by the Sun. It was shaped like a kite and had a 46-foot wide sail that enabled it to travel to Venus for six months.
NASA solar sail boom demonstrator reaches orbit
The primary payload on the launch was NEONSAT-1, an Earth observation satellite and the first of a constellation of 11 spacecraft for the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). NEONSAT-1 was deployed to a 520 km orbit before the Electron Kick Stage completed multiple in-space burns of its Curie engine.
NASA Launches Solar Sail to Test Sunlight-Propelled Space Travel
The mission will ride on board Rocket Lab's Electron, reusing one of the rocket's boosters for the first time.
NASA Launches New Solar Sail Technology That Will Deploy 80-Square-Meter Sail In Space
By taking advantage of the radiation pressure from sunlight, one can easily propel a spacecraft. This has been demonstrated several times but the technology still has challenges to overcome. So NASA is testing a new design dubbed the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System. It was launched into orbit just a few days ago, flying on a Rocket Lab launch.
New solar sail technology launches on Rocket Lab...
A potential new way to travel through space is set to launch aboard Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1 located on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula. The mission, named “Beginning of the Swarm,” will launch two payloads into a Sun-synchronous orbit. The launch is currently scheduled for April 23, with liftoff planned for 23:00 UTC.
Liftoff! NASA’s Next-Generation Solar Sail Boom Technology Launched
NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System Mission is on its way! The spacecraft lifted off from the launch pad aboard Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket at the company’s Launch Complex 1 in Māhia, New Zealand at 10:33 a.
NASA's new solar sail is about to orbit the Earth
Nearly a week after launching to space, a microwave-sized cubesat phoned home for the first time as it prepares to embark on its mission of sailing through low Earth orbit.
Rocket Lab Launched NASA Solar Sail System And Korean Satellite
A Rocket Lab Electron rocket launched the NEONSAT-1 Earth-observation satellite and NASA's Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) from New Zealand. Credit: Rocket Lab
Harnessing Sunbeams for Space Travel: NASA’s Solar Sail Mission Successfully Phones Home
NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System has successfully established communication with ground operators and is testing innovative solar sail technology that could revolutionize space travel. NASA
The age of the solar sail is arriving sooner than expected
A recent study published in Phys.org suggested that a probe propelled by a solar sail could reach Mars in just 26 days. By ...
NASA will unfurl a 860-square-foot solar sail from within a microwave-sized cube
Although delivered in a toaster-sized package, ACS3 will take less than 30 minutes to unfurl into an 860-square-foot sheet of ...
One step closer to a sci-fi reality—NASA announces funding for a quantum dot solar sail and a levitating train on the Moon
This is a spacecraft designed to explore outer solar system planets like Neptune and Uranus by the use of a solar sail with ...
ScienceAlert10d
NASA's Advanced Solar Sail Has Successfully Deployed in Space
Solar sails are an enigmatic and majestic way to travel across the gulf of space. Drawing an analogy to the sail ships of ...
UPI13d
NASA to launch solar sail, navigate space using sunlight
April 22 (UPI) --NASA is gearing up for a launch this week that will test a new way to navigate the solar system, using a large sail to catch the sunlight. The Advanced Composite Solar Sail ...