NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System is confirmed to have deployed from Rocket Lab’s Electron kick stage. The satellite has reached low Earth orbit to
The spacecraft will spend a couple of months in an initial flight and checkout phase before deployment of the booms and reflective sail. The craft needs to be at a sufficient altitude for the tiny force of sunlight that will be applied to the sail to overcome atmospheric drag. At this altitude, this force is said to be roughly equivalent to the weight of a paperclip resting on your palm. The craft will then perform a series of pointing maneuvers to demonstrate orbit raising and lowering which will span weeks, so it could be July or later before any results are known.
It sounds like they aren’t sending the spacecraft to a particular destination, but just testing the feasibility of the technology for potential future missions.
I found a relevant bit in a NASASpaceflight article: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2024/04/launch-roundup-042224/
It sounds like they aren’t sending the spacecraft to a particular destination, but just testing the feasibility of the technology for potential future missions.
Ah, and I misunderstood what “deployed” meant in the original post. They haven’t deployed the sail yet, just got the thing into orbit.