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A NASA mission testing a new way of navigating our solar system is ready to hoist its sail into space \u2013 not to catch the wind, but the propulsive power of sunlight. The Advanced Composite Solar Sail System\u00a0is targeting launch on Tuesday, April 23 (Wednesday, April 24 in New Zealand) aboard a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from the company\u2019s Launch Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula of New Zealand.<\/p>\n
Rocket Lab\u2019s Electron rocket will deploy the mission\u2019s CubeSat about 600 miles above Earth \u2013 more than twice the altitude of the International Space Station. To test the performance of NASA\u2019s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System, the spacecraft must be in a high enough orbit for the tiny force of sunlight on the sail \u2013 roughly equivalent to the weight of a paperclip resting on your palm \u2013 to overcome atmospheric drag and gain altitude.<\/p>\n
After a busy initial flight phase, which will last about two months and includes subsystems checkout, the microwave oven-sized CubeSat will deploy its reflective solar sail. The weeks-long test consists of a series of pointing maneuvers to demonstrate orbit raising and lowering, using only the pressure of sunlight acting on the sail.<\/p>\n
Stay tuned for updates as NASA\u2019s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System sets out to prove\u00a0its ability to sail across space, increasing access and enabling low-cost missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.<\/p>\n
NASA\u2019s<\/em> Ames Research Center in California\u2019s Silicon Valley manages the <\/em>project and designed and built the onboard camera diagnostic system. NASA\u2019s Langley Research Center in Langley, Virginia, designed and built the deployable composite booms and solar sail system. NASA\u2019s Small Spacecraft Technology (SST) program\u00a0office, within the agency\u2019s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), funds and manages the mission. STMD\u2019s\u00a0Game Changing Development program developed the deployable composite boom technology. Rocket Lab USA, Inc of\u00a0Long Beach, California, is providing launch services.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n