NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) spacecraft was lifted off from the launch pad aboard Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket at the company’s Launch Complex 1 in Māhia, New Zealand on April 24.
About ACS3
- The microwave oven-sized satellite will be placed in the low Earth orbit to test its next-generation solar sail technology.
- Data obtained from ACS3 will guide the design of future larger-scale composite solar sail systems that could be used for space weather early warning satellites, near-Earth asteroid reconnaissance missions, or communications relays for crewed exploration missions.
- This is the first use of composite booms as well as sail packing and deployment systems for a solar sail in space.
- The Advanced Composite Solar Sail System demonstration uses a twelve-unit (12U) CubeSat built by NanoAvionics to test a new composite boom made from flexible polymer and carbon fiber materials that are stiffer and lighter than previous boom designs.
- Advanced Composite Solar Sail technology could advance future space travel and expand our understanding of our Sun and solar system.
Solar Sail technology
- Just as a sailboat is powered by wind in a sail, solar sails employ the pressure of sunlight for propulsion, eliminating the need for conventional rocket propellant.
- Solar sails use the pressure of sunlight for propulsion, angling toward or away from the Sun so that photons bounce off the reflective sail to push a spacecraft.
- This eliminates heavy propulsion systems and could enable longer duration and lower-cost missions.
- Although mass is reduced, solar sails have been limited by the material and structure of the booms, which act much like a sailboat’s mast.
- Because solar sailing is efficient and requires no fuel, many exploration advocates have high hopes for this relatively novel propulsion strategy.
