CANDADA: The LightSail spacecraft has completed the primary objective of its first test flight: unfurling its solar sail. The vehicle took a picture of itself, showing the sail stretched out over a span of 344 square feet as the spacecraft soared in low-Earth orbit.
LightSail is designed to harness the power of sunlight in the same manner that a sailboat captures the wind to carry it across the water. To do this, the vehicle utilizes a Mylar sail capable of harnessing the momentum of photons of light racing from the sun. Although these light-carrying packets would have zero mass if they were to ever come to rest, their velocity provides photons with momentum, which can help drive spacecraft around the inner solar system. Just like sailboats on the Earth, these vehicles are capable of riding with the breeze or tacking sails to head into the wind.
The Planetary Society designed and manages the vehicle, which launched into space on May 20. Controllers lost communication with LightSail twice during the flight, there were issues with the battery not operating correctly, and additional issues with the software were encountered during flight. On June 7, program managers on the ground once again established contact with the ornery vehicle. The sail was successfully deployed, but the first time controllers attempted to download an image from LightSail, it contained no usable data. Engineers downloaded the image again and worked until the full picture was visible.
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