A diminutive spacecraft is about to navigate into its demise , burning up as it reenters Earth ’s standard atmosphere for the final stage of its missionary station .
The Planetary Society’sLightSail 2has been getting drag down by the pulling of Earth ’s atm , and is expected to reenter the atmosphere within the next few twenty-four hour period , the organizationannouncedon Monday . When it does , the ballistic capsule will sting up , bring its three and a half year journey of orbiting Earth to a fiery death .
“ We always love this would be the eventual circumstances for the spacecraft , ” The Planetary Society wrote . “ Despite the sadness at seeing it go , all those who worked on this project and the 50,000 individual donor who completely funded the LightSail program should reflect on this as a moment of pride . ”
LightSail 2 soaring above the Arabian Peninsula and the Red Sea.Image: The Planetary Society
LightSail 2 launched in June 2019 , unfurl its 344 - square - foot ( 32 - square - metre ) solar sail a calendar month after reaching its orbital Wiley Post . The function of the mission was to test solar glide as a way for spacecraft to travel .
Solar sheet run on photons from the Sun , make small bursts of momentum that actuate the spacecraft . As the photons slay LightSail ’s wings , the space vehicle was push further away from the Sun , reaching high altitudes . Just two weeks after spread its wings , LightSail 2 gained 2 miles ( 3.2 km ) of altitude , making this experimentation a succeeder .
The mission has even far exceed its initial one class timeline , and has been orbiting Earth for 3.5 year , completing 18,000 orbits , and covering 5 million miles ( 8 million kilometer ) . But for the retiring few months , LightSail 2 start up lose height at an increase pace .
The spacecraft has been the victim of atmospheric retarding force , causing LightSail 2 to slow down as it smash into atmospheric particles during its orbit . The Sun also wager a part in LightSail 2 ’s demise , heat up Earth ’s upper atmosphere , and causing it to become denser , which slowed down the spacecraft .
The mission also put up from communication glitches due to defective equipment at the ground station . During times of communicating driblet - off , the team was unable to send data to the space vehicle , causing its sailing to slenderly suffer .
After sink lower through Earth ’s aura , the spacecraft will finally reenter the atm . During reentry , LightSail 2 will be moving so quickly that it will make an energetic pressure undulation in front of it , get the strain around it to heat up and turn the spacecraft into a disintegrating ball of fire .
LightSail 2 may be coming to an goal , but the experimentation has already inspire a new generation of spacecraft . Those spacecraft includeNASA ’s NEA Scoutmission to a near - world asteroid ( scheduled for launching in August),NASA ’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail Systemto test out sail boom material in Earth electron orbit ( schedule for launch sometime mid-2022 ) , andNASA ’s Solar Cruiser(scheduled for a 2025 launching ) .
We ’ll be looking out for LightSail ’s fiery reentry , bidding farewell to the long - running solar sailor .
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