LightSail
LightSail is a project to demonstrate controlled solar sailing within low Earth orbit using a CubeSat. The project was developed by The Planetary Society, a global non-profit organization devoted to space exploration. It consists of two spacecraft — LightSail 1 and LightSail 2. LightSail 1 was an engineering demonstration mission designed to test its new sail deployment method in space, it did not perform solar sailing. LightSail 2 was a fully functional spacecraft intended to demonstrate true solar sailing and incorporated the lessons learned from LightSail 1. LightSail is a follow-on project to Cosmos 1 — a solar-sail spacecraft designed by The Planetary Society in the early 2000s, which was destroyed during a launch failure in 2005.
LightSail 2 after a boom deployment test | |
| Names | LightSail A LightSail 2 |
|---|---|
| Mission type | Technology demonstration |
| Operator | The Planetary Society |
| COSPAR ID | 2019-036AC |
| SATCAT no. | 44420 |
| Website | sail |
| Mission duration | LightSail 1 Final: 25 days LightSail 2 Final: 3 years, 4 months and 23 days |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft type | Solar sail |
| Bus | 3U CubeSat |
| Manufacturer | Stellar Exploration, Inc., Ecliptic Enterprises Corporation, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo |
| Dimensions | Core: 30 cm × 10 cm × 10 cm (11.8 in × 3.9 in × 3.9 in) Sail: 32 m2 (340 sq ft) |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | LightSail 1: 20 May 2015 LightSail 2: 25 June 2019 |
| Rocket | LightSail 1: Atlas V LightSail 2: Falcon Heavy |
| End of mission | |
| Decay date | LightSail 1: 14 June 2015 LightSail 2: 17 November 2022 |
Both LightSail spacecraft measured 30 cm × 10 cm × 10 cm (11.8 in × 3.9 in × 3.9 in) (3U CubeSat) in their stowed configuration. After sail deployment, the total area of each spacecraft was 32 m2 (340 sq ft).