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LCD 'Engine' For Spacecraft Attitude Control

Posted by kdawson on from the little-more-to-the-left dept.

Bruce Perens writes "Japan's IKAROS satellite, which earlier performed the first successful demonstration of a solar sail, has broken more new ground. Liquid-crystal displays — yes, like in your video monitor — were fabricated into strips on the edges of the solar sail. By energizing some of the LCDs and changing the reflective characteristics of parts of the sail from specular to diffuse, JAXA scientists successfully generated attitude control torque in the sail, changing the spacecraft's orientation."

7 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. Attitude Control by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    My wife needs that just about every month.

    1. Re:Attitude Control by Abstrackt · · Score: 5, Funny

      I can imagine. Living with a husband who makes comments like that must be stressful.

      --
      They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
  2. Color me impressed by metiscus · · Score: 3, Funny

    I wonder what amount of torque they were able to develop with this? It seems like it was pretty effective.

    1. Re:Color me impressed by JustOK · · Score: 4, Funny

      just some light torque, i would think.

      --
      rewriting history since 2109
  3. LCD? by r00tyroot · · Score: 2, Funny

    Now if only they could equip the spacecraft with some sort of LCD Soundsystem.

    1. Re:LCD? by sconeu · · Score: 3, Funny

      Not a good idea. They'd probably use Sony components, and because it has to do with audio, it would have a rootkit.

      --
      General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
  4. Re:I have a CRT by Chris+Burke · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hello, this is Captain Jean Luc Picard.

    On the bridge of the Enterprise, I have no problems with Number One. Number two is a different matter. That's why I use Star Fleet brand enemas. With a Star Fleet Enema, I can boldy go like no one has gone before!

    --

    The enemies of Democracy are