Spacetrack Directory Name | LIGHTSAIL-A |
Orbit launches | 2015-05-20 |
Deorbitation date | 2015-06-14 |
Days in orbit | 25 |
Country/organisation of origin | USA (US) |
Starting point | AFETR (Kennedy Space Center/Cape Canaveral, USA) |
WWW | Here |
Demonstrate the deployment of a 32 m2 solar sail from a 3-unit CubeSat platform. Following deployment from the launch vehicle, LightSail will power on engineering subsystems, and a system checkout will be performed. It is anticipated that solar sail deployment will occur approximately two weeks after launch. Following sail deployment, engineering telemetry and imaging of the sail deployment event will be downlinked. LightSail-3 will go to the Sun-Earth Libration Point, L1, where solar sails could be permanently placed as solar weather stations.