Tag: LightSail
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LightSail hailed as precursor for low-cost planetary missions
A camera aboard LightSail took this picture of the deployed solar sail. Credit: The Planetary Society Managers in charge of the privately-funded LightSail solar sail in Earth orbit said Wednesday the success of the experiment is a step toward opening up the solar system to scores of modest science probes that could explore space at…
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Satellite comes back to life, deploys solar sail on second try
Artist’s concept of LightSail backdropped by the Milky Way galaxy. Credit: The Planetary Society Mission managers say the shoebox-sized LightSail satellite powered up its tiny deployment motor Sunday, and data from the diminutive spacecraft indicate its experimental solar sail unfurled in orbit hundreds of miles above Earth. The deployment sequence began at 3:47 p.m. EDT…
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Ground team battling on-and-off communications with LightSail
LightSail’s solar sail undergoes a deployment test on the ground in September 2014. Credit: Justin Foley/The Planetary Society After an up-and-down week of intermittent contact with the LightSail satellite, the tiny spacecraft radioed home Saturday, giving engineers hope to deploy the experiment’s solar sail as soon as Sunday. The deployment window opens at approximately 2:02…
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LightSail deployment set for this week
Updated June 2. Artist’s concept of the LightSail spacecraft after deployment of the solar sail. Credit: The Planetary Society The Planetary Society’s LightSail spacecraft is back in contact with ground controllers after nine days of radio silence triggered by a suspected software glitch, and engineers plan to send the command to unfurl the tiny satellite’s…
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Video: Fourth X-37B launch highlights
This is the launch highlights reel from United Launch Alliance of the Atlas 5 rocket carrying the fourth mission of the Air Force’s X-37B spaceplane. See our earlier launch coverage.
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Photos: Pad cameras capture Atlas 5 launch
The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket with the Air Force’s X-37B spaceplane lifts off at 11:05 a.m. EDT from Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Photo credit: Alex Polimeni / Spaceflight Now See our earlier launch coverage.
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Photos: Atlas 5 sets sail to orbit
A windowless, robotic space shuttle with stubby wings, two tail fins, its belly covered with black thermal tiles, clam-shell doors that swing open to reveal a small payload bay and a solar array that unfurls for powering ultralong-duration missions rode back into orbit Wednesday on the fourth mission of the Air Force’s reusable X-37B spaceplane…
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Launch story: X-37B embarks on fourth voyage in orbit
CAPE CANAVERAL — A windowless, robotic space shuttle with stubby wings, two tail fins, its belly covered with black thermal tiles, clam-shell doors that swing open to reveal a small payload bay and a solar array that unfurls for powering ultralong-duration missions rode back into orbit Wednesday on the fourth mission of the Air Force’s…
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Citizen-funded CubeSat ready to go solar sailing
Credit: Josh Spradling / The Planetary Society A shoebox-sized satellite conceived and funded by members of the Planetary Society, an advocacy organization co-founded by Carl Sagan, is fastened to an Atlas 5 rocket for launch Wednesday to test one of the late celebrity-astronomer’s futuristic concepts for exploring the cosmos. Sagan and other proponents of solar…