Articles

Louis D. Friedman

The first full scale deployment of the Planetary Society's LightSail 1 solar sail was conducted on March 4, 2011 at Stellar Exploration in San Luis Obispo, California.

Bruce Betts

NASA announced that the Planetary Society’s LightSail 1 solar sail mission is on their short list for upcoming launch opportunities. The missions selected are CubeSats destined for piggyback launches as part of NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative.

Louis D. Friedman

NASA's Nanosail-D spacecraft surprised everyone, including its controllers, by suddenly deploying from its parent FASTSAT spacecraft and beginning its mission in space.

Louis D. Friedman

NASA's Nanosail-D, an innovative development by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight and Ames Research Centers, is scheduled to launch on Friday -- and we wish them well.

Susan Lendroth

Day Two of the USA Science & Engineering Festival, and it started with a game of

Susan Lendroth

The Planetary Society showcased our solar sail mission, Lightsail 1, at day one of the USA Science & Engineering Festival on Washington DC's National Mall.

Susan Lendroth

The Planetary Society booth is ready to go for the USA Science & Engineering Festival being held this weekend on the National Mall in Washington DC.

Louis D. Friedman

Japan's IKAROS team stole the show at the International Solar Sailing Symposium in New York City, where they announced that their spacecraft had achieved controlled solar sail flight.

Susan Lendroth

The 61st International Astronautical Congress (IAC) is being held in Prague in the Czech Republic, and Bill Nye is attending on behalf of the Planetary Society.

Louis D. Friedman

While we were in New York for the International Solar Sailing Symposium last week, we held a meeting with the Japanese IKAROS team to discuss technical results and issues in our two projects.

Louis D. Friedman

This week, Bill Nye and I are attending the International Solar Sail Symposium at the New York College of Technology.

Louis D. Friedman

LightSail 1, the Planetary Society's new ultra-light Cubesat-based solar sail spacecraft, has passed its Critical Design Review.

Louis D. Friedman

The LightSail 1 spacecraft development is proceeding well. Our engineering team has completed crucial milestones to building the vehicle that will demonstrate the value and potential of using sunlight alone to propel exploratory craft through space.

Emily Lakdawalla

I've been so focused on the dramatic return of

Susan Lendroth

What do you think will be the top trend in space in 2010? In his Cosmic Log on MSNBC, Alan Boyle suggests that The Planetary Society's solar sailing project may be a contender.

Susan Lendroth

The Planetary Society's new solar sail project -- LightSail -- has generated headlines and hundreds of news stories since it was announced on Monday.

Susan Lendroth

Our Executive Director Lou Friedman joins host Ira Flatow on NPR's Science Friday -- November 13 -- for a live chat about The Planetary Society's exciting new solar sail project.

Emily Lakdawalla

The Planetary Society announced today that an anonymous donor has put up one million dollars to help us get a solar sail in flight.

Bruce Betts

At the beginning of this decade, we designed a mission to accomplish this goal. We launched Cosmos 1 in June 2005, but the Volna rocket that was to place the spacecraft in orbit failed, and we were never able to test our solar sail in flight. These days, The Planetary Society is working with colleagues at NASA and at the Russian Space Research Institute to put together a new solar sail mission.

Louis D. Friedman

The Planetary Society and Cosmos Studios remain committed to flying the first flight with light. Our spacecraft, Cosmos 2, is a maneuverable solar sail that may be the precursor to a new mode of interplanetary travel, and could one day take us to the stars.