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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
In the past 4 days, the spacecraft has raised its orbital high point, or apogee, by about 2 kilometers.
Images from The Planetary Society's spacecraft confirm the solar sails deployed on 23 July 2019 at 11:47 PDT (18:47 UTC).
Visit planetary.org/live for video and audio from mission control, located at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in California.
The target ground station pass for deployment starts 23 July 2019 at roughly 11:22 PDT (18:22 UTC).
Spare bandwidth during ground station passes has allowed flight controllers to downlink 2 new high-resolution images.
PlanetVac, a technology that simplifies the process of collecting samples from other worlds, may fly to the Moon.
Sail deployment is now scheduled for no earlier than 21 July 2019.
Pictures taken by the spacecraft's cameras Friday evening show a crescent Earth, as LightSail 2 heads into orbital sunset.
Would you like to see the latest data from The Planetary Society's LightSail 2 spacecraft—possibly before flight controllers have even seen it? Now you can!
The mission team is working through a 73-step checklist to check out the spacecraft’s systems and perform various tests.
The mission team received LightSail 2's first signals on 2 July at 01:34 PDT (08:34 UTC), as the spacecraft passed over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in California.
The test showed Orion can blast itself away from the Space Launch System if the big rocket fails while attempting to fly to orbit.
Sporting 8 rotors and a nuclear power source like the Mars Curiosity rover, Dragonfly will launch in 2026 and arrive at Titan in 2034.
The Planetary Society's solar sail CubeSat lifted off from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on 25 June at 02:30 EDT (06:30 UTC).
The Planetary Society's solar sailing spacecraft is ready to take flight. We got an up-close look at its ride to orbit.
LightSail 2 is one of 24 spacecraft hitching a ride to orbit as part of the U.S. Air Force's STP-2 mission.
Our preview guide outlines the LightSail 2 mission from start to finish.
While LightSail 1 and 2 look nearly identical at a glance, there are a few important hardware differences between the two spacecraft.
The reflective softball-sized sphere will give the spacecraft a visual guide during a second potential sample collection.
Next Stop: Space!
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