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The solar sail uses a novel boom system made of flexible polymer and carbon fiber materials that can be rolled up.
NASA fully deployed its Advanced Composite Solar Sail System on Aug. 29 and has started testing it.
The solar sail uses a novel expanding tubular boom system made of flexible polymer and carbon fiber materials that can be rolled up inside a cubesat for launch and then unrolled when deployed. The fully deployed sails–there are four arrayed around the spacecraft–cover 860 ft.2 (80 m2), about half of a tennis court.
The solar sail, made of reflective polymer sheets, harnesses the energy of photons emitted from the Sun to propel the spacecraft. By angling the solar sail toward or away from the Sun, the spacecraft’s altitude and position are changed. Because the system does not require propellant, NASA says the technology could lower the cost of long-duration, deep-space travel and increase access to additional parts of space.
“During the next few weeks, the team will test the maneuvering capabilities of the sail in space,” NASA said on Aug. 29. “Raising and lowering the orbit of the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System spacecraft will provide valuable information that may help guide future concepts of operations and designs for solar sail-equipped science and exploration missions.
The solar-sail-equipped 12U cubesat was made by NanoAvionics and launched by Rocket Lab in April.
NASA says the current boom design could potentially support future solar sails as large as 5,400 ft.2, about the size of a basketball court. The space agency also sees the booms as a potential framing structure for buildings or antenna poles on the Moon or Mars.
NASA says its Advanced Composite Solar Sail System may be visible to people on Earth. It plans to release photos of the system unfurled in space in the coming days.
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