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LightSail solar spaceship ends test flight in fiery descent
And just like that, LightSail's inaugural flight is over. The Planetary Society has determined that its experimental solar sailer likely entered Earth's atmosphere (and met a fiery end) near the South Atlantic Ocean at 1:23PM Eastern on Monday. Don't bemoan the fate of the Carl Sagan-inspired spacecraft, however. While LightSail ran into more than a little trouble on its 25-day run, its mission was ultimately a success -- the only real goal was to deploy the ship's namesake sails and prove that the vehicle was spaceworthy. The real challenge comes late in 2016, when the Society expects to fly a second model that will actually use its photon-powered sails to get around.
Carl Sagan's solar spacecraft finally deploys its sails
The Planetary Society's LightSail spacecraft just dodged another bullet -- the ground crew has not only regained contact with the Carl Sagan-inspired ship, but managed to deploy its sails. It's still not clear just what rendered the vessel silent last week. However, the Society suspects that there might have been a "ping-pong effect" where LightSail's batteries got too little power in the darkness, and too much in sunlight. In short, the machine might not have had a chance to operate normally until now.
The LightSail solar spacecraft is in dire straits once again (update: it's back!)
Unfortunately, the LightSail spacecraft's recovery wasn't quite as miraculous as its creators first thought. The Planetary Society reports that it hasn't heard back from its sailer since Wednesday, shortly after the vehicle deployed its solar panels. The ground crew suspects that the failure might be due to a battery glitch, since the energy cells largely stopped drawing a current after the panels deployed. Attempts to wake up LightSail with "blind" commands (that is, without confirmed contact) haven't helped, so there's no simple fix.
LightSail solar spacecraft gets back in touch with its ground crew
If you were on pins and needles wondering whether or not the LightSail solar ship would resume contact with the crew back on Earth, you can relax. The Planetary Society reports that the Carl Sagan-inspired spacecraft rebooted as predicted, and the ground team is once again in touch. There's already a software fix waiting in the wings, and there will be a decision on when to deploy it "very soon" -- if all goes according to plan, the Society will deploy the vehicle's namesake sails soon afterward. You'll know more in the next two days, but for now it appears that this years-long project is back on track.
Carl Sagan's solar-powered spacecraft is getting its first test flight
Legendary astronomer Carl Sagan once envisioned a solar sailer, a spaceship that uses sunlight radiation to push itself through the solar system much like a boat relies on the wind. Decades later, his project is about to become a practical reality. The Planetary Society (which was co-founded by Sagan) has scheduled the first test flight for just such a solar vehicle, the LightSail, on May 20th. This initial run will see if the craft can successfully deploy its four Mylar sails. It won't be in a high-enough orbit to harvest the Sun's energy, but the experiment should pave the way for an honest-to-goodness sailing test in April 2016.
NASA wants to put your name on a spacecraft headed to an asteroid
Forget those dime-a-dozen "name a star" gifts -- wouldn't you rather put your name on a spacecraft that advances human understanding? NASA certainly thinks you do. It's teaming up with the Planetary Society to etch your name on chips inside its OSIRIS-REx probe, which will head toward the asteroid Bennu in 2016. While it's doubtful that any aliens will read your microscopic claim to fame, it'll certainly get the grand tour. The spacecraft will spend 500 days around the asteroid before heading back, and both the decommissioned vehicle as well as the returning sample capsule will have your ID. You can register your name today for free; just be prepared to wait years for the payoff.
