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NASA's solar sailor successfully deploys its sail for fuel-free control

The Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) team received data indicating official confirmation of the sail's deployment on Thursday at 5:33 UTC (1:33 p.m. EDT). The deployment...

The deployment is the first step in its mission to demonstrate the operation of a composite boom solar sail in low-Earth orbit. "Seven meters of the deployable booms can roll up into a shape that fits in your hand," said Alan Rhodes, the mission's lead systems engineer at NASA's Ames Research Center. The spacecraft will orbit the planet approximately 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) above the Earth and should be visible to skywatchers on clear nights due to the high reflectivity of the sail's materials.

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