SolarSail
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NASA successfully launches NanoSail-D solar sail from microsatellite in space
Took 'em long enough, don'tcha think? After talking things up for years (and getting dangerously close to pulling the trigger in mid-2008) NASA has finally ejected a solar sail into space. But that's not the kicker -- it managed to eject NanoSail-D from a microsatellite, dubbed FASTSAT. We're told that this "is the first time NASA has mounted a P-POD on a microsatellite to eject a cubesat," and sure enough, things have gone swimmingly ever since the mission began on Friday. Aside from giving NASA the ability to test out the effectiveness of using a solar sail in orbit, this also proves that FASTSAT is a "cost-effective independent means of placing cubesat payloads into orbit safely" -- that's according to Mark Boudreaux, FASTSAT project manager at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Moreover, the NanoSail flight results could lead to new methods of de-orbiting space debris in the future, not to mention get more and more of 'em there to begin with at a lower overall cost and with far less hassle.
IKAROS gets first burst of solar propulsion, wants more
Photons, man, it's all about the photons. Japan's solar sail-equipped IKAROS probe has recorded its first propulsion derived from the force of sunlight rays hitting its tender surface. The force generated is a truly minuscule 1.12 millinewtons, but that can go a long way (literally) in a frictionless environment like space. The kite's sails also soak up Sol's emitted light to generate electricity, making the most out of the one resource available to it. So now that we've figured out how to do all that, shall we get started on colonizing Mars or what?
IKAROS successfully stretches wings, prepares for solar spaceflight
Though it may look like a collection of tinfoil and string, the photo above depicts what may be the first solar sail to actually propel a spacecraft. Japan's IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-Craft Accelerated by Radiation of the Sun) just unfurled the 7.5 micron (.0003-inch) thick polyimide membrane 7.4 million kilometers from Earth this week, and expect its embedded thin-film solar panels to propel the craft past Venus and towards the dark side of the sun. Because wax and feathers only get you so far.
CubeSail parachute to drag old satellites from orbit, keep atmospheric roads clear
It's not something laypeople think about very often (space debris, for those wondering), but it's clearly on the minds of boffins at the University of Surrey. Over the years, the amount of defunct equipment hovering around beyond our view has increased significantly, with some reports suggesting that over 5,500 tonnes of exhausted kit is currently hanging around somewhere up there as a result of "abandoning spacecraft." In order to prevent the problem from growing (and to possibly reverse some of the damage), the CubeSail has been created. Put simply (or as simply as possible), this here parachute could be remotely deployed once a satellite had accomplished what it set out to do, essentially dragging it back through a fiery re-entry that it would never survive and clearing out the orbital pathway that it was using. We're told that it'll be ready for deployment in late 2011, but for now you can check out an all-too-brief demonstration vid just beyond the break.
New solar sail aims to not repeat recent history
Attempts to launch a solar sail into space haven't exactly been met with success in the past, but NASA now looks set to try to notch one up in the win column, with the agency reportedly on track for a launch of its own as soon as July 29th. As the name suggests, its new NanoSail-D is smaller than previous sails, with it consisting of four 3-meter wide sails made of a plastic film coated with aluminum. Also, like similar missions, this one is primarily a proof of concept one, which NASA hopes will demonstrate the feasibility of deploying sails in orbit, including the possibility of using them to bring satellites back down to Earth when they've outlived their usefulness to keep space a bit tidier. As NewScientist points out, however, NASA already has some of the odds stacked against it, with its launch craft, the Falcon 1, having failed on its two launch attempts so far.
