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Post Info TOPIC: Solar Sail Spacecraft, Cosmos 2
Blobrana


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NanoSail-D
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This autumn, NASA researchers will move one step closer to sailing among the stars.

Astrophysicists and engineers at the Marshall Space Flight Centre in Huntsville, Ala., and the Ames Research Centre in Moffett Field, Calif., have designed and built NanoSail-D, a "solar sail" that will test NASA's ability to deploy a massive but fragile spacecraft from an extremely compact structure. Much like the wind pushing a sailboat through water, solar sails rely on sunlight to propel vehicles through space. The sail captures constantly streaming solar particles, called photons, with giant sails built from a lightweight material. Over time, the buildup of these particles provides enough thrust for a small spacecraft to travel in space.
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Blobrana


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RE: Solar Sail Spacecraft, Cosmos 2
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For the first time, NASA is preparing to send into orbit a small satellite that can be propelled by solar sails. When light particles from the sun strike the surface of the sail, the energy is transferred to it, providing a propulsive force that moves the satellite through space.
NASA's goal is to test the complex deployment mechanism of the 10-square-meter sails.

"A successful flight will not only make for a unique historical event, but will show that we have a reliable mechanism to deploy a solar sail in space for future missions" - Dean Alhorn, an engineer at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Centre, in Huntsville, AL, and the lead engineer on the project.

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Blobrana


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NanoSail-D
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This summer, NASA plans to propel a satellite the size of a loaf of bread through space with an ultra-thin, 100-square-foot sail called NanoSail-D.

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Blobrana


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RE: Solar Sail Spacecraft, Cosmos 2
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Missions by the US non-profit Planetary Society to test solar sail technology failed in 2001 and 2005, because the rockets needed to get them into space malfunctioned. Now they look set for a comeback as early as 29 July, when a tiny NASA spacecraft called NanoSail-D is scheduled to go into Earth orbit.
The aim is to demonstrate the feasibility of deploying sails in orbit. The spacecraft will unfurl four 3-metre-wide sails made of plastic film coated with aluminium. In addition to feeling pressure from sunlight, it is hoped that the sails will experience a slight drag from Earth's outer atmosphere. Similar sails could one day be used to bring normal satellites back to Earth after their missions, reducing orbital clutter.

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Blobrana


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Sometime within the next few weeks NASA Ames Research Centre plans to launch a "nano-sail" as a piggy-back payload on the Falcon launch vehicle a private booster designed and built by Planetary Society Board Member Elon Musk's SpaceX corporation. This small sail, developed by NASAs Marshall Space Flight Centre (MSFC), would test atmospheric drag on the sail, but will not be making a controlled flight under sunlight pressure, which is the goal of Cosmos 2.

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