Two weeks after entering solar sailing mode, the Planetary Society’s LightSail 2 spacecraft has managed to raise its orbit by nearly 2 miles, in an important test of this promising new means of ...

The Planetary Society’s LightSail 2 launched in June 2019 and unfurled its 344-square-foot (32-square-meter) solar sail a month later. Just two weeks after spreading its wings, LightSail 2 ...

The progression of LightSail 2’s solar sail deployment sequence, taken on July 23, 2019. The first 13 photos were taken at 10 second intervals, the others were taken at 30 second intervals.

LightSail 2 is not humanity’s first success at sailing on sunbeams. That honor goes to IKAROS, a roughly 50-foot by 50-foot Japanese spacecraft weighing hundreds of pounds.

According to The Pllanetary Society, in just a month of sunlight, the craft’s speed could increase over 300 miles per hour. Despite the demise of the actual LightSail, images from the mission ...

Among the many spacecraft and satellites ascending to space on Monday's Falcon Heavy launch, the Planetary Society's LightSail 2 may be the most interesting. If all goes well, a week from launch ...

The nonprofit Planetary Society says its LightSail 2 experiment spread out its solar sails today, nearly a month after it rode to orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.

This website shows when LightSail 2 should be visible from a given location over the next 10 days. The site also offers an estimate for how likely you are to actually see the satellite during a ...

So far, it's been smooth sailing for the LightSail 2. The solar spacecraft is orbiting on its own after being delivered to space last week aboard Space X's Falcon Heavy. The mission team of the ...

The Planetary Society’s crowdfunded LightSail 2 spacecraft reported back some good news today: It’s officially orbiting on its own after being delivered to space via rocket rideshare aboard ...

Lightsail 2’s success, made possible thanks to 50,000 crowdfunders, will be another feather in the cap for those who believe solar sail technology can one day be used to travel vast distances in ...