| Satellite name | LightSail |
|---|---|
| Type | CubeSat |
| Units or mass | 3U |
| Entity name | The Planetary Society |
| Institution | Non-profit |
| Entity type | Academic / Education |
| Country | US |
| Partners | Aerospace Corporation, Stellar Exploration Systems, California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly), Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) |
| Oneliner |
Demonstrate the deployment of a 32 m2 solar sail from a 3-unit CubeSat platform. |
| Description |
Demonstrate the deployment of a 32 m2 solar sail from a 3-unit CubeSat platform. Following deployment from the launch vehicle, LightSail will power on engineering subsystems, and a system checkout will be performed. It is anticipated that solar sail deployment will occur approximately two weeks after launch. Following sail deployment, engineering telemetry and imaging of the sail deployment event will be downlinked. LightSail-3 will go to the Sun-Earth Libration Point, L1, where solar sails could be permanently placed as solar weather stations. |
| Sources | [1] [2] |
| Photo sources | [1] |
| Keywords | Solar sail, Propulsion |
Related Spacecraft
| Spacecraft | Status | Rocket | Date | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LightSail-A (LightSail 1) | Reentry 2015-06-15. Was operational until 2015-06-11. Various problems, but did deploy solar sail. | Atlas V | 2015-05-20 | 360 x 700 km, 55 deg |
| LightSail 2 (LightSail-B, LightSail-2) | Reentry 2022-11-19. Was operational (Rocket Lab post on Twitter on 2022-03-17. SmallSat 2023 presentation.) | Falcon Heavy | 2019-06-25 | 710 km, 24 deg |
| LightSail-C (LightSail-3) | cancelled (No plans for follow-on mission as per Kickstarter comments in 2019) | cancelled | x_cancelled | Sun-Earth Libration Point L1 |
Last modified: 2023-12-02
