William Atkins
Wednesday, 13 August 2008 22:32
Science -
Space
Page 1 of 3
The NASA NanoSail-D solar-powered spacecraft will not get a chance to test its four solar sails because, on August 2, 2008, the first and second stages of its launch vehicle, Falcon 1, failed to separate, and the payload did not achieve Earth orbit.
As reported on June 28, 2008, in the
iTWire article “
NASA ready to fly a kite in space with NanoSail-D," NASA was preparing to deploy a solar sail in space aboard a Falcon 1 rocket, built by PayPal founder Elon Musk’s company SpaceX, short for Space Exploration Technologies Corporation.
The 20-pound (nine-kilogram) spacecraft (its weight on Earth), which is only the size of a load of bread when compacted inside the rocket during launch, was launched from Omelek Island in the Pacific Ocean.
The rocket reached approximately 135 miles (217 kilometers) in altitude above Earth when its first stage performed flawlessly. However, the spent first stage failed to properly separate from the second stage.
Additional information on the aborted mission is provided on the SpaceX website “
Message from Elon Musk: Falcon 1, flight 3 mission summary.”
The Poly Picosatellite Orbital Deployer (P-POD), which was developed by the University of California Polytechnic Institute, would have released the solar-powered spacecraft on Saturday (August 2).
While in orbit, the spacecraft could have unfolded its four solar sails.
Once completely extended the solar sails would have consisted of an area of approximately 97 square feet (nine square meters). The Nano-Sail-D mission was intended to test atmospheric drag on its four solar sails.
Are there any future plans for another solar-powered spacecraft? Please read on.
