NASA's Solar Sail Mission Successfully Phones Home

NASA's Advanced Composite Solar Sail System has now connected with ground operators following its April 23 launch aboard Rocket Lab's Electron rocket. The satellite is on its way to testing next-generation solar sail technology, which uses the power of sunlight to propel a spacecraft. The results from this mission will advance future space travel to expand our understanding of our Sun and solar system.

The spacecraft was successfully delivered to a type of low Earth orbit called a Sun-synchronous orbit. All systems show that the spacecraft is operational and healthy. Last night at 11:30 p.m. PDT (2:30 a.m. EDT), the microwave oven-sized CubeSat passed over the ground hub located at Santa Clara University's Robotics Systems Lab in Santa Clara, California, and the mission team confirmed successful two-way communications.

Next, the CubeSat will undergo a one- to two-month commissioning phase to prepare for the solar sail deployment and maneuvering test. At this time, the sail remains within the body of the CubeSat. The mission operations team will set a date to unfurl the sail after all commissioning tasks have been completed. Once ready, the spacecraft will unroll it solar sail via four booms that span the diagonals of the square and unspool to reach 23 feet (about 7 meters) in length.