LightSail 2 – Spaceflight Now

October 7, 2022

Breaking News

[ October 6, 2022 ] Live coverage: Falcon 9 rocket launch aborted at T-minus 30 seconds Falcon 9
[ October 6, 2022 ] Dual satellite launch for Intelsat next on SpaceX’s launch schedule Falcon 9
[ October 5, 2022 ] Starlink mission marks SpaceX’s second Falcon 9 launch in one day Falcon 9
[ October 5, 2022 ] After a three-year wait, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy could launch again later this month Falcon Heavy
[ October 5, 2022 ] U.S.-Russian-Japanese crew lifts off from Florida heading for space station Falcon 9

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.