LightSail 2 – Spaceflight Now

August 4, 2021

Breaking News

[ August 3, 2021 ] Chinese commercial launcher fails during climb to orbit Mission Reports
[ August 3, 2021 ] China launches Tianhui military mapping satellite Mission Reports
[ August 3, 2021 ] Launch of Boeing crew capsule scrubbed due to propulsion system issue Atlas 5
[ August 2, 2021 ] Boeing crew capsule set for launch Tuesday on test flight to space station Atlas 5
[ August 2, 2021 ] In battle with Russian lab module, space station ‘brought a knife to a gun fight’ Atlas 5

LightSail team declares success in solar sail experiment

August 1, 2019

The gentle push of sunlight is slowly changing the orbit of the Planetary Society’s crowd-funded LightSail 2 satellite after it unfurled a thin solar sail the size of a boxing ring last week, officials confirmed Wednesday.

Privately-funded spacecraft now solar sailing in Earth orbit

July 26, 2019

A nanosatellite launched aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket last month has unfurled a solar sail membrane and is using light pressure from the sun to change its orbit around Earth, pioneering techniques that could be used by future missions traveling to the sun’s stellar neighbors.