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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
IKAROS: Successful sail deployment and solar power generation! Hooray!!
JAXA finally issued the formal announcement: they successfully expanded IKAROS' square sail!
Progress -- with pictures! -- on IKAROS' sail deployment
Several pictures from the sail deployment monitoring cameras showed up on the IKAROS blog overnight.
IKAROS team proceeds with final stage of sail deployment!
Just a brief update on IKAROS: According to their blog, JAXA has decided to proceed with the final stage of IKAROS' sail deployment.
IKAROS update: Rotation rate inexplicably increasing
JAXA's end-of-Sunday update on IKAROS' status gives more details about an issue they are working on the spacecraft. The spacecraft itself is in perfect health, but its dynamics are different from what was expected.
IKAROS sail deployment delayed until at least Tuesday
This is just a brief update to yesterday's post to add a few sentences that Lou wanted to hold until JAXA had had a chance to issue an official statement.
Taking things slowly with IKAROS sail deployment
Planetary Society Executive Director Lou Friedman was at JAXA's Japanese Space Exploration Center to observe the deployment of IKAROS' solar sails.
IKAROS sail deployment proceeding
Planetary Society Executive Director Lou Friedman is at JAXA's Japanese Space Exploration Center to observe the deployment of IKAROS' solar sails.
Lou Friedman is "our man in Japan" to watch IKAROS sail deployment
Planetary Society Executive Director Lou Friedman is now in Japan, joining the rest of the IKAROS team to watch the eagerly anticipated deployment of its solar sails.
Photo proof of good progress on IKAROS sail deployment
We have photo proof that the multi-step process of the deployment of IKAROS' square solar sail is going according to plan!
Initial checkout of IKAROS complete
JAXA has posted a short update on their solar sailcraft IKAROS.
All's well on IKAROS and Shin-en
Today JAXA posted a very brief mission status update on the IKAROS spacecraft, launched yesterday along with Akatsuki. Brief is good; all's well.
Akatsuki, IKAROS, UNITEC-1, and your names are on their way to Venus
It was a picture-perfect launch for three Venus-bound spacecraft this morning: the Akatsuki Venus orbiter, the IKAROS solar sail, and a university-built minisat named UNITEC-1.
Akatsuki and IKAROS new launch date set
According to the Akatsuki Twitter feed, the next try for launch of Akatsuki and IKAROS will be Thursday, May 20, at 21:58:22 UTC.
Akatsuki and IKAROS launch scrubbed due to weather
The countdown for the planned launch of Akatsuki and IKAROS got to about four minutes before they decided to cancel the attempt due to weather, and I can't blame them.
Photos of your names on the IKAROS spacecraft
IKAROS, Japan's solar sail, is nearly ready for launch, piggybacked behind the Venus orbiter Akatsuki.
Akatsuki and IKAROS getting ready for launch, with your names aboard
I've been so focused on the dramatic return of