Planetary Video • SciTech

LightSail 2 engineers test for success

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It's been a busy two months of testing for The Planetary Society's LightSail 2 spacecraft.

Engineers spun the CubeSat like a record and shined flashlights in its electronic eyes in order to make sure everything goes according to plan when the solar sail heads into space. LightSail will soon be transported to Utah State University's Space Dynamics Laboratory, where it will be flooded with magnetic fields in order to calibrate the spacecraft's attitude control system.

This short video showcases tests of the spacecraft's momentum wheel, gyroscopes, deployment motor and sun sensors.

Footage by Ecliptic Enterprises Corporation
Music: "Turtles all the way down" by General Fuzz