Login
Specialists from the American space agency NASA reported the successful deployment of a solar sail in near-earth orbit, writes gazeta.ru.
The experiment was conducted aboard the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3), a spacecraft launched in April 2024. The solar sail, an 80-square-meter (about half the size of a tennis court) square, is made of a special material that can capture photons, or particles of light. Despite the lack of mass in photons, when they collide with the sail, they transfer momentum to it, thus creating thrust.
Over the coming weeks, scientists will closely study the sail's behavior in space conditions, analyzing its maneuverability and response to solar radiation.
“The flight data obtained during the demonstration will be used to design future larger-scale composite solar sail systems for space weather early warning satellites, asteroid and other small body exploration missions, and polar solar observation missions”, - NASA said.