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Credit & Copyright: Ralf Vandebergh
Explanation:
In 2011, on January 20,
NASA's
NanoSail-D2 unfurled a very thin and very reflective
10 square meter sail becoming the first solar sail spacecraft in
low Earth orbit.
Often considered the
stuff
of science fiction, sailing through space
was suggested 400 years ago by
astronomer Johannes Kepler,
who had observed comet tails blown by the solar wind.
But
modern solar sail
spacecraft designs, like NanoSail-D2, Japan's interplanetary spacecraft
IKAROS,
or the Planetary Society's Lightsail A,
rely on the small but
continuous pressure from sunlight itself for thrust.
Glinting in the sunlight as it circled planet Earth, NanoSail-D2's
solar sail was periodically bright and visible to the eye.
These remarkably detailed images were captured by manually tracking
the orbiting solar sail spacecraft with a small telescope.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: spacecraft
Publications with words: spacecraft
See also: