LightSail 2

LightSail, a Planetary Society solar sail spacecraft

LightSail is a citizen-funded project from The Planetary Society to send a small spacecraft, propelled solely by sunlight, to Earth orbit.

sail.planetary.org

This video shows brief highlights from LightSail 2, a crowdfunded space mission by The Planetary Society launching in June 2019. LightSail 2 aims to become the first spacecraft in Earth orbit propelled solely by sunlight. The goal is to raise LightSail 2’s orbit by a measurable amount, showing that solar sailing is a viable means of propulsion for CubeSats—small, standardized spacecraft that are part of a global effort to lower the cost of space exploration.

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