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(GIST OF SCIENCE REPORTER) Advanced Composite Solar Sail System

(MAY-2024)

NASA successfully launched its Advanced Composite Solar Sail System spacecraft from New Zealand recently.

It is a NASA technology demonstration mission designed to characterize solar sail structures technologies for future small spacecraft to engage in deep space missions requiring long-duration, low-thrust propulsion.
Launched in 2024, ACS3 will deploy a sail about the size of a small apartment from a toaster oven-size spacecraft.
At its core, ACS3 is a CubeSat, a small satellite built to standardized dimensions. It features four 7 m long deployable composite booms.
Just as a sailboat is powered by wind in a sail, solar sails employ the pressure of sunlight for propulsion, eliminating the need for conventional rocket propellant.
Space missions have demonstrated that small spacecraft can use solar sails to change their orbits, expanding their possible uses.
Future solar sail missions will need bigger sails and lighter materials to maximize their performance.
ACS3 uses lightweight carbon fiber sail booms instead of traditional metal booms.
This will be the first test of this technology in space.

Light is made up of particles called photons. Photons don’t have mass, but they have momentum.
As sunlight reflects off a shiny solar sail, some of its momentum gets transferred, giving the sail a small push.
This push is slight but continuous and, over time, can impart more thrust to a spacecraft than traditional chemical rockets.
Solar sails can reach unique destinations that are difficult or impossible to access with other propulsion systems.
This may also be the best option for interstellar travel.