Here’s Our First Look at Bill Nye’s Even Bigger, Higher-Flying LightSail

Less than a year after the LightSail cubesatsuccessfully deploy its solar sails in space , the Planetary Society has bring out its heir , an observational ballistic capsule point LightSail-2 .

LightSail-2 is still under development , but if all goes well this prototype solar sail spacecraft will be on control board SpaceX’sFalcon Heavyrocket during its first operational flight schedule for later this year . Eight month ago , its smaller predecessor , LightSail-1(formerly known as LightSail - A),unfurled its sailafter mission controllers overcame some technical problems . Unlike LightSail-1 , the novel solar sail spacecraft will be placed in a gamey - enough orbital cavity to allow for actual navigation .

Planetary Society CEO Bill Nye is a major exponent of the engineering science , tout its potential difference as an effective , low - budget alternative to quad exploration . As conceptualize by Carl Sagan decennary ago , the lightsail ’s propulsion is provided by solar radiation ; solar photons exert irradiation imperativeness on the canvas , which produces a small arcdegree of acceleration . It will start off slow , but the continuous stream of sunlight , plus the arrant absence seizure of friction , should give up it to reach relatively high speed over time .

The new light sheet feature four triangular sails , made of mylar , which immix to form a rectangular - shaped surface . Once the 3U cubesat reaches an orbital altitude of 500 knot ( 800 klick ) , the sails will deploy , extending across a total area measuring 32 square meters . The primary trial finish will be to assess whether the solar sail are a viable form of spacecraft propulsion .

In celebration of the name change , the Planetary Societyreleased a new videoshowing a sheet deployment test at Ecliptic Enterprises Corporation in Pasadena .

Writing in The Planetary Society , Jason Davisexplainswhat encounter during the test :

William Duplessie

Unsurprisingly , [ the ] deployment tests bring out minor topic that engineers … have spent the past few week working to resolve . The deployment motor hesitated several times , not unlike the way it did during LightSail 1 testing . There was a glitch with the spacecraft ’s onboard camera , which capture staggered images during the sail deployment sequence . And additional civilisation are still being apply to the spacecraft ’s communications and attitude control system .

A second round of system testing is planned at Cal Poly . This will pave the mode for a full , day - in - the - sprightliness trial run as soon as March , when the ballistic capsule demonstrates its gist mission functions one final time on the ground .

For the launch , LightSail-2 will be mate with theProx-1 , a artificial satellite design to try out shaping fell , which is presently being make at Georgia Tech .

Starship Test 9