"NASA's Next-Gen Solar Sail: A Futuristic Breakthrough in Space Travel"

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Source: ScienceAlert
"NASA's Next-Gen Solar Sail: A Futuristic Breakthrough in Space Travel"
Photo: ScienceAlert
TL;DR Summary

NASA is preparing to launch its next-generation solar sail spacecraft, the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3), which aims to demonstrate a more effective solar sail design using lightweight carbon fiber and flexible polymers for booms. The spacecraft will be deployed from a CubeSat and will head for a Sun-synchronous orbit 1,000 km above Earth, where it will unfurl its sail with a photon-gathering area of 80 square meters. If successful, this technology could revolutionize space propulsion and enable long-duration missions using the Sun's abundant energy.

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