Articles

Stories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.

LightSail 2 over the Caribbean (Camera 1, Processed)

Bill Nye, Planetary Society Staff Listen to LightSail 2 Signal

When LightSail 2 recently flew south of The Planetary Society's headquarters, CEO Bill Nye and other staff members stepped outside to listen.

LightSail 2 North of Australia (Camera 1, Processed)

Calling All Image Processors: Help Us Create a Top-Down View of LightSail 2

We've got 2 fish-eye pictures of the spacecraft's solar sail from opposite cameras, and we're hoping they can be combined.

Crowd watching the launch of LightSail 2

Your Impact: September Equinox 2019

Your LightSail 2 spacecraft is in space, controlling its orbit solely on the power of sunlight.

LightSail 2 Marks 1 Month of Solar Sailing

LightSail 2's orbital high point around the Earth has raised by 7.2 kilometers, without any conventional fuel.

LightSail 1 from Tahoe National Forest, California

How to See LightSail 2 in the Night Sky

If your latitude is within 42 degrees of the equator, there's a chance you may be able to spot LightSail 2's reflective solar sail.

LightSail 2 Solar Sail over Baja California

LightSail 2 Nears 2 Weeks of Solar Sailing

The high point of the spacecraft's orbit around the Earth on Monday was 729 kilometers, an increase of 3.2 kilometers since sail deployment.

LightSail 2 During Sail Deployment Sequence (Camera 1)

LightSail 2 Spacecraft Successfully Demonstrates Flight by Light

In the past 4 days, the spacecraft has raised its orbital high point, or apogee, by about 2 kilometers.

LightSail 2 During Sail Deployment Sequence (Camera 2)

LightSail 2 Successfully Deploys Solar Sail

Images from The Planetary Society's spacecraft confirm the solar sails deployed on 23 July 2019 at 11:47 PDT (18:47 UTC).

Pacific Ocean and Mexico from LightSail 2

LightSail 2 Sail Deployment Scheduled for Tuesday

The target ground station pass for deployment starts 23 July 2019 at roughly 11:22 PDT (18:22 UTC).

LightSail 2 sail deployment test success, 23 May 2016

Live Coverage: LightSail 2 Sail Deployment

Visit planetary.org/live for video and audio from mission control, located at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in California.

LightSail 2 Team Continues Tweaks and Tests for Sail Deployment

Spare bandwidth during ground station passes has allowed flight controllers to downlink 2 new high-resolution images.

Planetary Society-funded Technology Picked by NASA for Possible Moon Flight

PlanetVac, a technology that simplifies the process of collecting samples from other worlds, may fly to the Moon.

LightSail 2 Team to Conduct More Testing before Sail Deployment

Sail deployment is now scheduled for no earlier than 21 July 2019.

Here are the First Pictures of Earth from LightSail 2

Pictures taken by the spacecraft's cameras Friday evening show a crescent Earth, as LightSail 2 heads into orbital sunset.

LightSail 2 mission control dashboard PP icon

See the Latest Data from LightSail 2 on Our New Mission Control Dashboard

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!

LightSail 2 artist concept with Earth behind

LightSail 2 Healthy as Mission Team Continues Spacecraft Checkouts

The mission team is working through a 73-step checklist to check out the spacecraft’s systems and perform various tests.

First Contact! LightSail 2 Phones Home to Mission Control

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.