NASA Launches Micro Solar Sail

greyarea67 writes with news that NASA has successfully used a "microsatellite" (a term given to satellites weighing between 10kg and 100kg) to deploy a "nanosatellite" (a term given to satellites weighing between 1kg and 10kg). The deployed object, the first of six in the microsatellite's payload, was the NanoSail-D flight unit. NanoSail-D masses 4kg and is "about the size of a loaf of bread" until it deploys its solar sail. "...when the NanoSail-D sail is deployed it will use its large sail made of thin polymer material, a material much thinner than a single human hair, to significantly decrease the time to de-orbit the small satellite without the use of propellants as most traditional satellites use. The NanoSail-D flight results will help to mature this technology so it could be used on future large spacecraft missions to aid in de-orbiting space debris created by decommissioned satellites without using valuable mission propellants."

Comments

Wrong way, Silly!

[Bruce Perens]

OK, it might be easier to test a solar sail by de-orbiting something faster, and it's important to not contribute further to orbital debris. But the interesting direction is UP! Get the thing from low-orbit to a higher orbit with the solar sail, like the Japanese have started to do with the IKAROS satellite. Can we get from LEO to geostationary with a solar sail? Can we use it to maintain an orbit without propellant? That means less mass for delta-V to lift out of the atmosphere, and thus less cost but maybe a long time to achieve the final orbit.