Comments on: NASA reveals technical problem during solar sail deployment of test mission https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/nasa-reveals-technical-problem-during-solar-sail-deployment-of-test-mission/ Thu, 29 Aug 2024 19:30:05 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Robert Zimmerman https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/nasa-reveals-technical-problem-during-solar-sail-deployment-of-test-mission/#comment-1516270 Thu, 29 Aug 2024 19:30:05 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=107826#comment-1516270 In reply to Kevin Kempton.

Kevin Kempton: You appear to be part of the team for this project. Can you direct me to any specific official post providing a full update?

]]> By: Kevin Kempton https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/nasa-reveals-technical-problem-during-solar-sail-deployment-of-test-mission/#comment-1516266 Thu, 29 Aug 2024 19:12:45 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=107826#comment-1516266 Update 8/29:
Colleagues,
Today, the NASA Langley-developed composite booms and solar sails were successfully deployed on-orbit as a part of the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) mission. I want to congratulate the NASA Langley team on the successful demonstration of this new technology. I also would like to congratulate our colleagues and partners in the Small Spacecraft Technology program office at NASA Ames who managed the ACS3 project. This mission has been years in the making, with a number of hurdles to overcome — right up to these successful, exciting moments of deployment. The team’s creativity, dedication and perseverance have been essential to its success.
The launch of ACS3 took place from New Zealand on April 23 with the primary objective of unfurling the solar sails, which were designed, developed, and tested at NASA Langley. Now, about 600 miles above Earth those composite booms have unrolled and stretched out the sail segments—a shiny, 860-square-foot spacecraft catching photons and using the power of sunlight to provide propulsion. We look forward to the next milestone when the booms are maneuvered, and the sail is angled to adjust the spacecraft’s orbit.
Solar sail technology can be an important tool for future science and exploration missions by using the free and limitless energy of the Sun to take us to new corners of the solar system. I am excited to see where is leads us next.
Again, our heartiest congratulations to our incredible team. Thank you for a job well done!

]]> By: Dick Eagleson https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/nasa-reveals-technical-problem-during-solar-sail-deployment-of-test-mission/#comment-1515853 Wed, 28 Aug 2024 03:38:28 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=107826#comment-1515853 I’d bet that, among the Brown students who designed and built the successful solar sail, you’d find at least one who had had some experience working as crew on a racing yacht. The NASA team, on the other hand, I would just as strongly expect to be entirely landlubbers.

]]> By: Jeff Wright https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/nasa-reveals-technical-problem-during-solar-sail-deployment-of-test-mission/#comment-1515824 Wed, 28 Aug 2024 00:11:02 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=107826#comment-1515824 That’s the problem—packing things in too tight in too small a rocket.

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