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#1 2004-08-10 03:33:12
- Rxke
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- From: Belgium
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Re: Japan launches Solar Sail - at last someone did it!
http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/e/snews/2004/08 … ]ISAS/JAXA
Small is beautiful...
Weird, I hadn't heard about plans doing this before. I guess they were in some kind of race to be the first one?
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#2 2004-08-10 03:45:19
- GraemeSkinner
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Re: Japan launches Solar Sail - at last someone did it!
ISAS succeeded in deploying a big thin film for solar sail in space for the first time in the world.
So is it still the first time in the world as it was in space? 
Just looked a strange sentence to me anyway.
You are right though Rxke, small is beautiful in this case, looked more like an artists impression than a real sail. It would have made a great live broadcast,.
Graeme
There was a young lady named Bright.
Whose speed was far faster than light;
She set out one day
in a relative way
And returned on the previous night.
--Arthur Buller--
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#3 2004-08-10 03:58:28
- GraemeSkinner
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Re: Japan launches Solar Sail - at last someone did it!
Looking through their website they have some good missions planned http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/e/enterp/missio … ml]Lunar-A looks interesting.
Graeme
There was a young lady named Bright.
Whose speed was far faster than light;
She set out one day
in a relative way
And returned on the previous night.
--Arthur Buller--
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#4 2004-08-10 05:22:29
- Rxke
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Re: Japan launches Solar Sail - at last someone did it!
Just looked a strange sentence to me anyway.
In a way, i think their crummy "Engrish" is waaaay cool. They don't throw unecc. money to good translators!
There's even a typo in the title...
It feels so much more genuinely enthousiastic, compared to highly polished Flash-y 'dazzling' sites that take ages to load, even on broadband.
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#5 2004-08-10 07:09:45
- SpaceNut
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Re: Japan launches Solar Sail - at last someone did it!
I knew I had seen another solar sail project called cosmos 1.
http://www.planetary.org/solarsail/index2.html
Even Nasa was into the game on solar sails.
http://solarsail.jpl.nasa.gov/
more history
http://www.space.com/busines....06.html
I did not however find proof of launch or of results with regards to cosmos 1. So they may indeed be the first to do so.
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#6 2004-08-10 08:51:35
- bolbuyk
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Re: Japan launches Solar Sail - at last someone did it!
Anybody know the area of these sails? What is btw a clover-type or a fan-type sail?
Although this went right, the sail was not parked in orbit. It was a parabolic flight. The Russian trials were in orbit. At least one didn't succeed. NASA has lot of plans....
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#7 2004-08-10 10:17:19
- Rxke
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Re: Japan launches Solar Sail - at last someone did it!
This was a deployment demonstrator. No use to go orbital if you don't know how to deploy the sail (the single most difficult aspect of the mission.)
So now they know. Heehee.
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#8 2004-08-10 12:57:03
- SpaceNut
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Re: Japan launches Solar Sail - at last someone did it!
You might be able to find out the type of sail info on this site.
http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~diedrich/solarsails/
or on this one
http://www.solarsails.info/
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#9 2004-08-10 13:16:17
- SpaceNut
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Re: Japan launches Solar Sail - at last someone did it!
More news release stuff;
NASA's Solar Sail Propulsion Team and industry partners have successfully deployed two 10-meter solar sails in a vacuum environment — a critical milestone in development of the unique propulsion technology that could enable future deep space missions. Solar sail propulsion uses the Sun's energy to travel through space.
http://www.msfc.nasa.gov/news/news/rele … 4-208.html
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#10 2004-11-10 06:41:10
- SpaceNut
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Re: Japan launches Solar Sail - at last someone did it!
Cosmos 1 is closing in on that magical date to show that a sail can be pushed by photons, costing under 4 million. So how cheap is that russian sub rocket?
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#11 2005-01-31 11:02:09
- Grypd
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Re: Japan launches Solar Sail - at last someone did it!
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/spa … 46.500]New Scientist article
Seems that scientists have found that a sail made of carbon with a paint coating that would be vapourised by heating would accelerate to 60km/s per second. It would require delivery of 60MW of microwaves from another source but this should be feasible to do.
Interesting but with some questions
1) The return leg would still be limited to the engine on the spacecraft if it was returning.
2) Where would a 60MW microwave be based.
3) Finally the sail would find that the paint is a one use option.
These are fundamental questions but for a means to get to places faster it may be worth it.
Chan eil mi aig a bheil ùidh ann an gleidheadh an status quo; Tha mi airson cur às e.
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#12 2005-01-31 11:42:20
- SpaceNut
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Re: Japan launches Solar Sail - at last someone did it!
Does not the sun its self give off microwave rays as well as other wave lenghts.
Sounds like all that would be needed is a wave guide feed horn arrangement to collect and direct them onto the target sail.
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#13 2005-01-31 12:50:04
- Grypd
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Re: Japan launches Solar Sail - at last someone did it!
I think its the actual amount that reaches the sail that is important and Im pretty sure that the Sun will not deliver the required 60mw. It also seems to be set for a specific frequency so allowing it to be able to cause the paint to melt and release its stored gases.
Chan eil mi aig a bheil ùidh ann an gleidheadh an status quo; Tha mi airson cur às e.
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#14 2020-06-20 19:38:29
- SpaceNut
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Re: Japan launches Solar Sail - at last someone did it!
bump
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#15 2020-06-20 20:07:42
- kbd512
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Re: Japan launches Solar Sail - at last someone did it!
SpaceNut,
The launch to Jupiter for the thin film photovoltaic powered solar sail is coming up.
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#16 2022-03-27 11:09:08
- Mars_B4_Moon
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Re: Japan launches Solar Sail - at last someone did it!
French startup raises funding to develop solar sails
https://spacenews.com/french-startup-ra … lar-sails/
A French startup has raised an initial round of funding to begin testing of solar sails it believes can sharply reduce the cost of deep space missions.
Paris-based Gama announced March 22 it raised 2 million euros ($2.2 million) in seed funding to start work on solar sails, including a demonstration mission it plans to launch in October. The funding came from the French public investment bank BPI, the French space agency CNES and several private investors.
The funding will allow the company to complete its first spacecraft, Gama Alpha, which is scheduled to launch in October on a SpaceX rideshare mission. The six-unit cubesat, using a bus provided by NanoAvionics, will test the deployment of a solar sail with an area of 73.3 square meters.
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#17 2022-05-26 19:32:27
- Mars_B4_Moon
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Re: Japan launches Solar Sail - at last someone did it!
NanoAvionics and Gama to set sails in space
https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Nano … e_999.html
Gama, a French space startup, has contracted mission integrator NanoAvionics for a demonstration of Gama's solar sails propulsion system in low Earth orbit (LEO). Under the mission agreement, NanoAvionics will provide its 6U nanosatellite bus, payload integration services, a satellite testing campaign, launch services and satellite operations. The launch of the "Alpha" nanosatellite is scheduled for the second half of this year.
Gama's range of solar sails are aimed at commercial companies and research organisations looking for a cost-effective and less complex setup and propulsion system to explore deep space through small satellites.
Using nano- or microsatellites propelled through space by solar sails would allow them to travel greater distances without requiring large amount of stored fuel. They can also be launched with smaller and cheaper rockets, making shuttle trips between planets less expensive and more practical than conventional chemical rockets.
Missions for small satellites with solar sail technology could include getting data about Neptune's atmosphere or Uranus' magnetosphere, performing low-cost asteroid reconnaissance missions, carrying cargo to the Moon or Mars, sending rovers to Titan or Venus, and helping to remove space debris.
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#18 2022-06-25 16:13:15
- Mars_B4_Moon
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Re: Japan launches Solar Sail - at last someone did it!
LightSail 2 getting lower as it completes third year in space
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#19 2022-07-07 12:34:43
- Mars_B4_Moon
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Re: Japan launches Solar Sail - at last someone did it!
A Sail to slow down?
China uses drag sail to clear up space junk successfully
https://www.newsweek.com/chinese-space- … it-1722670
A 269-square-foot sail has been unfurled from the payload of a rocket
The sail will decelerate the payload causing it to move out of orbit and burn up
The 269-square-foot (25-square-metre) 'de-orbiting sail' works by slowly decelerating its defunct payload until it is moved out of orbit.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech … phere.html
Did you know that up to date, some 8,950 satellites have been launched into orbit? Based on the most recent estimates, about 5,000 of these satellites remain in orbit despite the fact that they have reached the end of their lifespan and no longer serve a purpose.
The ever-growing problem of space junk
https://interestingengineering.com/chin … technology
Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology announced that Chinese scientists successfully unfurled a drag sail to deorbit a recently launched Long March 2 rocket. The event marked the first time such an experiment was done with a rocket.
Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2022-07-07 12:35:24)
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#20 2022-10-05 03:29:42
- Mars_B4_Moon
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Re: Japan launches Solar Sail - at last someone did it!
Back on Planet Earth?
Giant supertanker uses 9.8% less fuel thanks to 130-foot sails
https://newatlas.com/marine/new-aden-supertanker-sails/
Diffractive Solar Sailing
https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/space … r_sailing/
Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2022-10-05 13:12:16)
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#21 2023-04-12 07:02:20
- Mars_B4_Moon
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Re: Japan launches Solar Sail - at last someone did it!
Tiny Spacecraft Using Solar Sails Open Up a Solar System of Opportunity
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#22 2023-04-12 08:02:57
- GW Johnson
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- From: McGregor, Texas USA
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Re: Japan launches Solar Sail - at last someone did it!
The Planetary Society flew the first solar sail, some time ago now.
GW
GW Johnson
McGregor, Texas
"There is nothing as expensive as a dead crew, especially one dead from a bad management decision"
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#23 2023-04-12 09:26:46
- tahanson43206
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Re: Japan launches Solar Sail - at last someone did it!
For GW Johnson re #22
I was intrigued by your reminder, and assumed the article found by Mars_B4_Moon would acknowledge previous work.
I found this reference, but am not sure the Planetary Society efforts were appropriately recognized.
Solars sails have gotten plenty of media attention and technology demonstrations lately, with the Lightsail and IKAROS missions completed successfully in the last few years. A few more are still to come, including NEAScout and OKEANOS, which will further derisk the technology at the heart of the Sundiver concept.
The first Planetary Society venture with the Russians was a failure, because the Russian rocket failed to achieve orbit.
Google found this:
LightSail is a follow-on project to Cosmos 1 — a solar-sail spacecraft designed by The Planetary Society in the early 2000s, which was destroyed during a launch failure in 2005.
LightSail - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › LightSail
About Featured Snippets
(th)
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#24 2023-05-28 15:41:19
- Mars_B4_Moon
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Re: Japan launches Solar Sail - at last someone did it!
Riding Sunbeams with Solar Sails
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#25 2023-05-29 08:51:19
- GW Johnson
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Re: Japan launches Solar Sail - at last someone did it!
The Planetary Society's second solar sail craft was launched a few years ago, and performed quite successfully. It was the very forst solar sail craft flown by humans. See headline excerpt I found in under a second online, below.
GW
The Planetary Society's LightSail 2 spacecraft sailed into history last year, successfully completing its mission to demonstrate flight by light. The solar sail reentered Earth's atmosphere on Nov. 17, 2022 after 3 1/2 years in space.
GW Johnson
McGregor, Texas
"There is nothing as expensive as a dead crew, especially one dead from a bad management decision"
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