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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

LightSail 2 Sends Back 1st Signals from Its Solar-Surfing Test Flight [space.com]

The space advocacy organization The Planetary Society recently confirmed that its LightSail 2 spacecraft [space.com] has sent its first signals home from space.

The roughly 11-lb. (5 kilograms) cubesat is designed to prove that solar sailing is a feasible way of keeping satellites moving. Fuel is a costly and heavy commodity, and if LightSail 2 can prove that the solar-powered technique works well, perhaps future missions into the deep reaches of the solar system and beyond can be propelled [space.com] by the charged particles released by the sun.

The project launched into space last week [space.com] (June 25) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy megarocket. On Tuesday (July 2), the bread-loaf-size LightSail 2 experiment left Prox-1, its carrier vehicle. LightSail 2 will ultimately open up [space.com] its ultrathin four-panel sail to achieve a surface area about the size of a boxing ring.

[...] Once the cubesat deploys its solar sail early next week, the rays from the sun will give LightSail 2 a gentle push. The goal is to observe LightSail 2 [space.com] over the course of a month to see if it shifts in its orbit by a measurable amount, according to The Planetary Society officials. That will help demonstrate that solar sailing is an effective satellite-propulsion technique.

In other news, 'Oumuamua is not an alien light sail [sciencealert.com], probably.

See also: What's the Difference between LightSail 1 and LightSail 2? [planetary.org]
First Contact! LightSail 2 Phones Home to Mission Control [planetary.org]
See the Latest Data from LightSail 2 on Our New Mission Control Dashboard [planetary.org] (here [planetary.org])

Previously: Planetary Society's "LightSail" Solar Sail Test Launch on May 20 [soylentnews.org]
Lightsail Update: Back in Communication [soylentnews.org]
Planetary Society's LightSail Has Finally Deployed After Multiple Setbacks [soylentnews.org]
One Legacy of Carl Sagan May Take Flight Next Week—a Working Solar Sail [soylentnews.org]
Falcon Heavy to Launch STP-2; 4-Hour Window Opens @ 2019-06-25 2:30am EDT (2019-06-25 0630 UTC) [soylentnews.org]

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