The Lightsail 2 spacecraft has raised its orbit using its light sail. WOO HOO!!!
Since unfurling the spacecraft's silver solar sail last week, mission managers have been optimizing the way the spacecraft orients itself during solar sailing. After a few tweaks, LightSail 2 began raising its orbit around the Earth. In the past 4 days, the spacecraft has raised its orbital high point, or apogee, by about 2 kilometers. The mission team has confirmed the apogee increase can only be attributed to solar sailing, meaning LightSail 2 has successfully completed its primary goal of demonstrating flight by light for CubeSats.
One of the life-limiting problems with spacecraft is consumables. If you use rockets of any sort to move the spacecraft and maintain an orbit, eventually it will run out of fuel.
The light sail allows this satellite to change orbit upward without expending fuel. This technology can be used to keep satelites in space much longer, and allow them to replace mass that used to be fuel with more payload, such as cameras and related electronics.
It really works. Wow!
The Phantom
3 comments:
I hope Henry Belt had some involvement.
Of course it works. Our understanding of physical law would've required some adjustment if it didn't. The problem is it takes forever to go anywhere practical. We need Project Orion. Not the bureaucratic fraud NASA is currently perpetrating upon the public, but the real thing. Nuclear pulse propulsion. Saturn with seven weeks' travel time. Cost of lifting a pound into orbit, five cents. High thrust combined with high specific impulse. The one and only space drive buildable with currently proven technology that will open up the fast and practical exploration and exploitation.
Build Project Orion!
One year to Jupiter?
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