the planetary society
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The Daring LightSail 2 Spacecraft Is Being Sucked Into Fiery Doom
For the past three years, a tiny loaf-of-bread-sized spacecraft with gigantic wings has been sailing on sunbeams in low Earth orbit. LightSail 2 has far exceeded its life expectancy and proven that solar sails can indeed be used to fly spacecraft. But its journey around our planet is sadly coming to an end, as Earth’s…
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Bill Nye’s Solar-Powered Space-Sailer Has Woken Up
For the last few weeks since its launch, the experimental LightSail satellite has been orbiting Earth, unable to make ground contact thanks to a software glitch. But earlier today, the spacecraft’s handlers successfully deployed the little craft’s gigantic sail.