The non-profit Planetary Society announced on July 31 that the solar sail, the LightSail 2 demonstrator, launched in June successfully completed the voyage and succeeded in demonstrating the solar voyage in Earth’s orbit.
The solar sail is a system that navigates with thin-film mirrors and gains momentum by the reaction of reflecting light and ions from stars such as the sun. Since there is no need to load fuel, solar sails are expected to be used in spacecraft applications that travel very long distances.
The Light Sale 2 was launched last June through SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket and then launched at an altitude of 720 km. Following this, the verification of solar sails in Earth’s orbit will be conducted for one year. Light Sale 2 succeeded in deploying a 32m2 sail while circling the southern part of the North American continent at 11:47 on the 23rd, and later fine-tuned it and rode the earth orbit.
A week after the successful sail deployment, the Light Sale 2 raised its altitude close to 2 km from the highest point in orbit, and the perigee altitude dropped. This orbital change was only possible and predicted through solar sails. For this reason, the Planetary Association decided that it had proved the solar sail of the Light Sale 2.
An official from the Planetary Association said, “The target level was to change the spacecraft’s orbit using only solar light pressure, and to prove the solar sail controlled by CubeSat, and finally prove it.” Lightsale 2’s mission could make a big difference in space flight and advanced space exploration. Related information can be found here .