Our Ticket to Interstellar Space Is a Shiny, Ultra-Thin Metallic Blanket
Two-and-a-half years ago, a tiny spacecraft soared into the sky aboard a Space X rocket blasting off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Settling into an orbit 426 miles above Earth, the shoebox-sized object—called LightSail 2, designed by the California-based Planetary Society, and crowdfunded by 40,000 private donors chipping in $7 million—unfurled a 20-by-20-foot foil sail as thin as a strand of human hair.
Like many science satellites, LightSail 2 carries a suite of cameras and radio instruments, powered by solar panels. But the point of this mission is the sail, which is specially designed to be sensitive to light. When photons from the sun hit the sail, they nudge LightSail 2 forward with enough force to counteract Earth’s gravity and keep the craft in a stable orbit.
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