https://www.space.com/lightsail-2-solar-sailing-mission-ends
'The LightSail 2 spacecraft will ride on sunshine no more.
The Planetary Society's crowdfunded solar sailing craft re-entered Earth's
atmosphere on Thursday morning (Nov.17) after nearly 3.5 years in orbit — more
than three times longer than its designed mission life.
The LightSail 2 team has received no communications from the spacecraft since
that date, leading them to conclude that the shoebox-sized craft had finally
given up the ghost after completing 18,000 orbits and traveling about 5 million
miles (8 million kilometers) around our planet.
"LightSail 2 is gone after more than three glorious years in the sky, blazing a
trail of lift with light, and proving that we could defy gravity by tacking a
sail in space," science communicator Bill Nye, CEO of The Planetary Society,
said in a statement. "The mission was funded by tens of thousands of Planetary
Society members, who want to advance space technology."
LightSail 2 was the first small spacecraft to demonstrate controlled solar
sailing, harnessing photons from the sun to adjust its orbit. (LightSail 2
wasn't the first craft of any type to solar sail in space, however; Japan's
Ikaros probe did so in 2010.)'
Via Kenny Chaffin.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
