NASA’s Pioneering Solar Sail Hits a Snag While Tumbling in Space

A microwave-sized spacecraft with ample metallic wings is tumbling successful orbit arsenic engineers enactment to hole a glitch that’s causing it to suffer orientation.

After deploying 4 composite booms connected committee the experimental star sail mission, NASA engineers observed a flimsy crook successful 1 of the poles that extends on the spacecraft’s wings, the abstraction bureau revealed successful a caller update. The squad down the ngo is hoping that the bent roar does not hinder the remainder of the mission.

The Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) launched connected April 23 connected committee Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket from New Zealand. The star sail was delivered to a Sun-synchronous orbit astir 600 miles (966 kilometers) supra Earth’s aboveground (more than doubly the altitude of the International Space Station) to trial a caller signifier of spaceflight that uses sunlight for propulsive power.

Four cameras aboard the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System spacecraft amusement the 4 reflective sail quadrants supported by composite booms. The successful the roar pictured successful the near country of the bottommost near representation has a flimsy bend. Credit: NASA

NASA’s ACS3 is designed to trial caller materials and deployable structures for star sail propulsion systems, including caller composite booms that were utilized to unfurl the star sail successful orbit. They enactment similar a sailboat’s boom, but are designed to clasp the sails, which drawback the propulsive powerfulness of sunlight alternatively than wind. The composite booms are made from a polymer material; they’re lightweight portion inactive being stiff and resistant to bending and warping erstwhile exposed to antithetic temperatures.

The spacecraft has afloat unfurled its sail to its quadrate shape, stretching crossed 30 feet (9 meters) per side, oregon astir fractional the size of a tennis court. However, the ngo squad noticed what appears to beryllium a flimsy crook successful 1 of the 4 booms, which span the diagonals of the quadrate to scope 23 feet (7 meters) successful length.

NASA engineers are assessing the bend, which whitethorn person occurred erstwhile the booms and sail were pulled taut against the spacecraft during deployment, according to the abstraction agency. “The superior nonsubjective of the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System objection is to trial deployment of the booms successful abstraction to pass aboriginal applications of the composite roar exertion for large-scale star sails and different structures,” NASA wrote successful its update. “Data collected from this formation trial has already proven highly valuable, and the objection volition proceed producing captious accusation to alteration aboriginal star sail missions.”

Solar sails tally connected photons from the Sun, causing tiny bursts of momentum that propel the spacecraft farther distant from the star. If a spacecraft is capable to surpass the resistance from Earth’s atmosphere, it could perchance scope precise precocious altitudes. The composite roar exertion utilized for this demo ngo could beryllium utilized to deploy star sails up to 500 quadrate meters (5,400 quadrate feet), oregon astir the size of a hoops court, according to NASA.

Since its launch, however, things person not been creaseless sailing for the experimental mission. A fewer months aft its launch, the mission’s sail became stuck erstwhile an onboard powerfulness show detected higher-than-expected centrifugal currents, pausing the unfurling process. In precocious August, the ngo squad was successful successful its 2nd effort to afloat deploy the spacecraft’s sail and booms.

Before rolling retired the booms, however, the squad had to deactivate the spacecraft’s cognition power strategy successful bid to accommodate its changing dynamics arsenic the sail unfurled. The cognition power strategy helps the spacecraft support a peculiar predisposition comparative to different determination successful space, fundamentally keeping it oriented. Solar sail’s cognition power has not yet been reengaged, and arsenic a result, the spacecraft is presently tumbling done space.

“Now, ngo operators are moving to reposition the spacecraft, keeping the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System successful debased powerfulness mode until its star panels are much favorably oriented toward nonstop sunlight,” NASA wrote. “The squad is conserving the spacecraft’s vigor for precedence operations – specified arsenic two-way communications with ngo power – until its cognition power strategy is reactivated.”

Once its cognition power strategy is reengaged, the amended oriented spacecraft volition beryllium capable to constituent its vigor antenna toward ngo power connected Earth and pass with the NASA engineers connected the ground. “At this stage, the squad volition beryllium capable to stitchery adjacent much data, calibrate the precise signifier of the sail, and hole to statesman its sailing maneuvers,” according to NASA.

NASA engineers privation to trial the maneuvering capabilities of the spacecraft, raising and lowering its orbit utilizing lone the unit of sunlight acting connected the sail. The mission’s archetypal formation signifier is designed to past for 2 months. Throughout its clip sailing successful space, NASA is hoping to cod arsenic overmuch information arsenic imaginable from its ACS3 ngo to assistance pass aboriginal spacecraft design.

Other star sails person travel earlier it, namely the Planetary Society’s LightSail 2, which launched successful June 2019 and gained 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) of altitude conscionable 2 weeks aft unfurling its 344-square-foot (32-square-meter) star sail. In November 2022, the ngo came to a fiery extremity aft it began losing altitude and reentered done Earth’s atmosphere. The bequest of LightSail 2 inspired respective different missions successful its wake, including ACS3, arsenic good arsenic NASA’s NEA Scout mission to a near-Earth asteroid and NASA’s Solar Cruiser (scheduled for a 2025 launch).

The exertion is inactive successful its infancy, and it’s intelligibly not without its challenges, but the imaginable to scope farther destinations heavy successful the cosmos could beryllium powered by our big star.