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Solar sails are an exciting way to travel through the Solar System because they get their propulsion from the Sun. NASA has developed several solar sails, and their newest, the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (or ACS3), launched a few months ago into low-Earth orbit. After testing, NASA reported today that they extended the booms, deploying its 80-square-meter (860 square feet) solar sail. They\u2019ll now use the sail to raise and lower the spacecraft\u2019s orbit, learning more about solar sailing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Sun will continue burning for billions of years, so we have a limitless source of propulsion. Instead of launching massive fuel tanks for future missions, we can launch larger sails that use \u2018fuel\u2019 already available,\u201d said Alan Rhodes, the mission\u2019s lead systems engineer at NASA\u2019s Ames Research Center, earlier this year. \u201cWe will demonstrate a system that uses this abundant resource to take those next giant steps in exploration and science.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n And for all you skywatchers out there, NASA said that given the reflectivity of the large sail and its position in orbit (about 1,000 km\/600 miles) above Earth, ACS3 should be easily visible at times in the night sky. The Heavens Above website already has ACS3 listed on their page (just put in your location to see when to catch the solar sail passing over your area.) There should be info and updates available on social media, so follow NASA.gov and @NASAAmes on X and Instagram for updates. <\/p>\n ACS3 is part of NASA\u2019s Small Spacecraft Technology program, which has the objective of deploying small missions that demonstrate unique capabilities rapidly. ACS3 launched in April 2024 aboard Rocket Lab\u2019s Electron rocket from New Zealand. The spacecraft is a twelve-unit (12U) CubeSat built by NanoAvionics that\u2019s about the size of a microwave oven. The biggest challenge designing and creating lightweight booms that could be small enough to fit inside the spacecraft while being able to extend to about 9 meters (30 ft) per side, and being strong enough to support the solar sail. The lightweight but strong composite carbon fiber boom system unrolled from the spacecraft to form rigid tubes that support the ultra-thin, reflective polymer sail.<\/p>\n This video shows how the booms work and the sail deploys:<\/strong><\/p>\n \n