LightSail-B successfully deployed a sail

On Thursday, January 28, the first deployment of the solar sail was successfully completed as part of the start of tests to prepare LightSail-B for launch on the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle. The disclosure of the sail was the last step in the first round of testing.

LightSail-B is the second amateur satellite of the LightSail series . The first in the series, the LightSail-A satellite successfully flew on May 20, 2015. But after a week it “disappeared” due to a software error .

After an accidental restart of the device by cosmic radiation, the connection was restored, but then the connection was lost again, and again the connection was restored . It was decided to proceed as quickly as possible to the main tests and open the sail.The sail, with a thickness of only 4.5 microns, successfully opened, a photo of the sail was obtained with one satellite camera , and a reflection of the sail was photographed by astronomers on Earth.

Due to the low orbit, where the influence of the atmosphere is strong, the sail began to slow down the satellite greatly and soon the satellite left orbit, having fully completed the test program.

The second satellite will be launched in September 2016 on Falcon Heavy along with the Prox-1 satellite, which is designed to perform a number of experiments paired with LightSail-B, in particular, to observe it from the outside.

Both satellites together will enter a higher orbit (altitude 750 km), sufficient to avoid braking about the atmosphere. In this orbit, two satellites will be separated, and then closer to the Prox-1 satellite. Later it will be demonstrated the possibility of movement on "solar traction".

Photo of a deployed sail on a table with a low friction surface:


Other photos can be viewed here. Earlier tests of the new software were completed . In the next round of tests, all systems will be tested together.