LightSail-2 Mission Shows Solar Sailing’s Potential for Spaceflight
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“We’re anxious to announce goal success for LightSail-2,” Bruce Betts, a module manager and a society’s arch scientist, pronounced in a statement.
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The Planetary Society has been posterior a LightSail module for a decade, financed by 40,000 donations totaling $7 million. LightSail 2 launched on Jun 25, one of a payloads lofted by a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. The spacecraft, about a distance of a fritter of bread, successfully deployed 4 triangular sails of glossy Mylar a week ago.
As it circles around Earth, 450 miles above a surface, a booster has been overhanging a sails to locate a sunlight, most like a sailboat tacking in a wind. In a past 4 days, it has lifted one side of a circuit by some-more than a mile. At a same time, a circuit is apropos some-more elliptical, and a other side of a circuit is overhanging closer to Earth. That creates a booster locate some-more of a atmosphere, and a drag will eventually lift LightSail-2 to a passing in about a year.
Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/edition_entertainment/~3/PjeyRu6F9YM/index.html
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