Month: April 2024

Ahoy! NASA’s Solar Sail Mission Successfully Phones Home

NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System has now connected with ground operators following its April 23 launch aboard Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket. The satellite is on its way to testing next-generation solar sail technology, which uses the power of sunlight to propel a spacecraft. The results from this mission will advance future space travel to expand our understanding of our Sun and solar system.

The spacecraft was successfully delivered to a type of low Earth orbit called a Sun-synchronous orbit. All systems show that the spacecraft is operational and healthy. Last night at 11:30 p.m. PDT (2:30 a.m. EDT), the microwave oven-sized CubeSat passed over the ground hub located at Santa Clara University’s Robotics Systems Lab in Santa Clara, California, and the mission team confirmed successful two-way communications.

Next, the CubeSat will undergo a one- to two-month commissioning phase to prepare for the solar sail deployment and maneuvering test. At this time, the sail remains within the body of the CubeSat. The mission operations team will set a date to unfurl the sail after all commissioning tasks have been completed. Once ready, the spacecraft will unroll it solar sail via four booms that span the diagonals of the square and unspool to reach 23 feet (about 7 meters) in length.

For ongoing mission updates, follow us on social media:

Twitter: @NASAAmes, @NASA
Facebook: NASA Ames, NASA
Instagram: @NASAAmes, @NASA

NASA Ames manages the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System project and designed and built the onboard camera diagnostic system. NASA Langley designed and built the deployable composite booms and solar sail system. NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology (SST) program office based at NASA Ames and led by the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), funds and manages the mission. NASA STMD’s Game Changing Development program developed the deployable composite boom technology. Rocket Lab USA, Inc of Long Beach, California is providing launch services. NanoAvionics is providing the spacecraft bus.

Launch Date Set for NASA’s PREFIRE Mission to Study Polar Energy Loss

The PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) mission will send two CubeSats – shown as an artist’s concept against an image of Earth from orbit – into space to study how much heat the planet absorbs and emits from its polar regions, including the Arctic and Antarctica. Photo credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA and Rocket Lab are targeting no earlier than Wednesday, May 22, 2024, for the first of two launches of the agency’s PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) mission to study heat loss to space in Earth’s polar regions. For the PREFIRE mission, two CubeSats will launch on two different flights aboard the company’s Electron rockets from Launch Complex 1 in Māhia, New Zealand. Each launch will carry one satellite.   

NASA’s PREFIRE mission will fill a gap in our understanding of how much of Earth’s heat is lost to space from the polar regions. By capturing measurements over the poles that can only be gathered from space, PREFIRE will enable researchers to systematically study the planet’s heat emissions in the far-infrared – with ten times finer wavelength resolution than any previous sensor.  

The Arctic and Antarctic help regulate Earth’s climate by radiating heat initially absorbed at the tropics back into space. But for regions like the Arctic, the spectrum of 60% of the energy escaping to space hasn’t been systematically measured. Filling in this picture is important for understanding which parts of the polar environment are responsible for heat loss and why the Arctic has warmed more than 2.5 times faster than the rest of the planet. In addition to helping us understand how the poles serve as Earth’s thermostat, PREFIRE observations of this heat exchange can improve our understanding of the mechanisms of polar ice loss and related questions of sea level rise and sea ice loss.  

The instruments will fly on two identical CubeSats – one instrument per CubeSat – in asynchronous, near-polar orbits. 

NASA and the University of Wisconsin-Madison jointly developed the PREFIRE mission. The agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, located in Southern California, manages the mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and provided the spectrometers. Blue Canyon Technologies built the CubeSats, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison will process the collected data. 

The launch, which Rocket Lab named “Ready, Aim, PREFIRE,” will be followed by a second CubeSat mission launch several weeks later.. The second launch, which the company calls “PREFIRE and Ice,” will also lift off from New Zealand on an Electron rocket. NASA’s Launch Services Program selected Rocket Lab to launch both spacecraft as part of the agency’s VADR (Venture-class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare) contract.  

Follow launch updates on NASA’s Small Satellite Missions blog.

To learn more about the PREFIRE mission, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/prefire/  

Solar Sail CubeSat Has Deployed from Rocket

NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System is confirmed to have deployed from Rocket Lab’s Electron kick stage. The satellite has reached low Earth orbit to begin its mission to test next-generation technology that uses the power of sunlight as propulsion.  

Next, the solar sail satellite will power up and attempt initial contact with the ground; a process that may occur overnight or in the next several days. 

For updates, follow us on social media:   

Twitter: @NASAAmes, @NASA
Facebook: NASA Ames, NASA
Instagram: @NASAAmes, @NASA 

NASA Ames manages the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System project and designed and built the onboard camera diagnostic system. NASA Langley designed and built the deployable composite booms and solar sail system. NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology (SST) program office based at NASA Ames and led by the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), funds and manages the mission. NASA STMD’s Game Changing Development program developed the deployable composite boom technology. Rocket Lab USA, Inc of Long Beach, California is providing launch services. NanoAvionics is providing the spacecraft bus. 

NASA’s Solar Sail: We Have Liftoff!

NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System Mission is on its way! The spacecraft has lifted off from the launch pad aboard Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket.  

The microwave oven-sized satellite is on its way to low Earth orbit to test its next-generation solar sail technology, using the power of sunlight as propulsion.  

Rocket Lab is providing a live launch broadcast, available on the company’s website. 

Connect with us on social media for ongoing launch updates: 

Twitter: @NASAAmes, @NASA, @RocketLab 
Facebook: NASA Ames, NASA, RocketLabUSA 
Instagram: @NASAAmes, @NASA, @RocketLabUSA 

NASA Ames manages the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System project and designed and built the onboard camera diagnostic system. NASA Langley designed and built the deployable composite booms and solar sail system. NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology (SST) program office based at NASA Ames and led by the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), funds and manages the mission. NASA STMD’s Game Changing Development program developed the deployable composite boom technology. Rocket Lab USA, Inc of Long Beach, California is providing launch services. NanoAvionics is providing the spacecraft bus.  

It’s Launch Day for NASA’s New Solar Sail Mission!

Welcome to launch day for NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail Mission! This next-generation solar sail technology, which uses the pressure of sunlight for propulsion, waits for liftoff atop a Rocket Lab Electron rocket at the company’s Launch Complex 1 in Māhia, New Zealand. This launch will send the solar sail satellite to low Earth orbit, where it will test technologies designed to advance future space travel and expand our understanding of our Sun and solar system.   

A one-hour launch window opens at 6:00 p.m. EDT (10:00 a.m. Wednesday, April 24, in New Zealand). Rocket Lab is providing a live launch broadcast, available on the company’s website approximately 30 minutes before launch. 

Today’s launch aims to deploy the spacecraft about 600 miles above Earth, which is more than twice the altitude of the International Space Station. Following an initial flight stage lasting about two months, the microwave-oven sized CubeSat will deploy its solar sail. The mission consists of a series of maneuvers to demonstrate orbit raising and lowering, using only the pressure of sunlight acting on the sail. 

Here’s a look at some of today’s upcoming milestones. All times are approximate: 

  • -00:02:00 Launch autosequence begins 
  • -00:00:02 Rutherford engines ignite 
  • 00:00:00 Lift-off 
  • 00:00:55 Vehicle Supersonic 
  • 00:01:07 Max-Q 
  • +00:02:24 Main Engine Cut Off (MECO) on Electron’s first stage 
  • +00:02:28 Stage 1 separates from Stage 2 
  • +00:02:31 Electron’s Stage 2 Rutherford engine ignites 
  • +00:03:07 Fairing separation 
  • +00:06:21 Battery hot-swap 
  • +00:09:11 Second Engine Cut Off (SECO) on Stage 2 
  • +00:09:15 Stage 2 separation from Kick Stage 
  • +00:47:09 Kick Stage Curie engine ignition 
  • +00:49:16 Kick Stage Curie engine cut off 
  • ~+01:45:36 Payload deployment for NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System

Follow launch updates on this blog and stay connected with the mission on social media: 

Twitter: @NASAAmes, @NASA, @RocketLab 
Facebook: NASA Ames, NASA, RocketLabUSA 
Instagram: @NASAAmes, @NASA, @RocketLabUSA 

NASA Ames manages the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System project and designed and built the onboard camera diagnostic system. NASA Langley designed and built the deployable composite booms and solar sail system. NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology (SST) program office based at NASA Ames and led by the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), funds and manages the mission. NASA STMD’s Game Changing Development program developed the deployable composite boom technology. Rocket Lab USA, Inc of Long Beach, California is providing launch services. NanoAvionics is providing the spacecraft bus.