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Over the past three years, small a piece of breadA spaceship the size of a giant bun Wings sailing in the sun in Low Earth Orbit. LightSail 2 Has Exceeded Life Expectations It has been proven that solar sails can indeed be used to fly Starship. But its journey around our planet is unfortunately coming to an end, as Earth’s atmosphere is pulling the spacecraft to where it will eventually burn up. air fire.
Planetary Society LightSail 2 Launched in June 2019 Open 344 square feet (32 square meters) Solar sails after a month. Just two weeks after spreading its wings, the LightSail reached a height of 2 miles (3.2 kilometers), making it This experiment was successful. But over the past few months, LightSail 2 has been losing ever-increasing altitude changed. It now sails at an average altitude of about 390 miles (627 km)), down from about 446 miles (718 km .)) at the beginning of the task, Menurut Planetary Society.
The scientists behind the mission predict that LightSail 2 will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere over the next few months, but they don’t have an exact date. During re-entry, the spaceship will move like this Immediately it would create a wave of energetic pressure in front of him, causing the surrounding air to heat up and burn the LightSail in a fiery shroud.
Solar sails act on photons coming from the sun causing tiny bursts of photons that momentum Push the spaceship as The photons collided with the LightSail’s wings, pushing the spacecraft away from the sun. If the spacecraft were able to pass through the clouds from Earth’s atmosphere, it would likely reach very high altitudes.
During its mission, LightSail 2 went through some ups and downs (literally). orbit Sometimes lost Altitude several meters per day And sometimes you get a few meters. But after three years circling the Earth, experimental device seen experience steep drop Increased as a result of some Factor.
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When a spacecraft falls, the density of the atmosphere increases very rapidly, resulting in atmospheric resistance. The light screen crashes into the atmosphere grains also traveling in speed Access 20.000 mph (32000 km / h), causing the spacecraft to slow down. “Our case is more extreme than most spacecraft because our sail area is so large compared to the mass of the spacecraft,”Planetary Society book in statement. Imagine throwing a rock as opposed to throwing a piece of paper. The pull of the atmosphere will stop paper much faster than rock.”
Ironically, the Sun also works against LightSail 2. When the sun is most active, When the temperature rises earth’s upper atmosphere, causing it to extend to higher ground. Initially Mission, The Sun has experienced some downtime as part of an 11 year cycle, but our hosts recently star speed up their activities because Maximum solar period. This has Cause the atmosphere to be More intense at a higher altitude, until It reaches the spaceship, causing LightSail 2 to be pulled down.
The third factor that led to the death of LightSail was more human than global. Mission suffering Connection interruption due to error Equipment at the earth station. During the blackout, the team was unable to send data to the spacecraft, causing it to sail Suffer, even if a little.
Even though LightSail 2 He will soon meet his fiery death, and the legacy of Starship will live on. orbit inspire many other missions, Including NASA Scouting NEA mission to near-Earth asteroids(scheduled to be released in August)Dan NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Screen System To test the sail arm material in Earth orbit ((Scheduled for release in mid-2022)Dan NASA Agency solar cruiser (It is scheduled to be launched in 2025). The age of the solar sail, it seems, fast approaching.
more: LightSail 2, propelled by sunlight, increased its orbit by 10,500 feet in just two weeks
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