It's a long way to the nearest star, which means conventional rockets won't get us there. The fuel requirements would make our ship prohibitively heavy. So an alternative is to travel light. Literally. Rather than carrying ...
Space Exploration
Feb 5, 2024
0
43
As NASA's exploration continues to push boundaries, a new solar sail concept selected by the agency for development toward a demonstration mission could carry science to new destinations.
Space Exploration
May 25, 2022
3
18
Even after 30 months in space, The Planetary Society's LightSail 2 mission continues to successfully "sail on sunbeams," demonstrating solar sail technology in Earth orbit. The mission is providing hard data for future missions ...
Space Exploration
Nov 19, 2021
10
304
The Planetary Society's crowdfunded solar-sailing CubeSat, LightSail 2, launched on June 25th 2019, and two years later, the mission is still going strong. A pioneering technology demonstration of solar sail capability, LightSail ...
Space Exploration
Jun 28, 2021
45
8
Mission accomplished: the Planetary Society announced Wednesday that its LightSail 2 spacecraft, which was launched last month, had successfully raised its orbit using only the power of photons from the Sun.
Space Exploration
Aug 1, 2019
7
366
Years of computer simulations. Countless ground tests. They've all led up to now. The Planetary Society's crowdfunded LightSail 2 spacecraft is successfully raising its orbit solely on the power of sunlight.
Space Exploration
Aug 1, 2019
0
251
LightSail 2, the brainchild of the Planetary Society, has released two new gorgeous images of Earth. The small spacecraft is currently in orbit at about 720 km, and the LightSail 2 mission team is putting it through its paces ...
Space Exploration
Jul 22, 2019
4
271
The Planetary Society's LightSail 2 spacecraft is ready to embark on a challenging mission to demonstrate the power of sunlight for propulsion.
Space Exploration
May 14, 2019
0
151
The concept of LightSail—spacecraft designed to propel through space on beams of sunlight— pushed through by nothing but the pressure of sunlight—has been around for years but this month made special news because the ...
