We often see sailing ships in old movies. Especially in the past, far away sails were used for traveling. These ships were also used in the voyages that led to the discovery of new continents. Now solar sails are used to explore the depths of space.

Advanced Composite Sun Sail System (ACS3) The team received official clearance to depart at 3:33 p.m. on Thursday. Primary driver of ACS3occurs when external pressure is applied to the sail. This sail will accelerate the vehicle during its journey in orbit around the Earth using only photons from the sun. As the photons bounce off the reflective sail, the spacecraft moves in the desired direction.

Will not be dependent on fuel

“A ‘sailing’ launch, just in time for Labor Day,

@NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) has been successfully deployed!

“Solar sail propulsion systems such as ACS3 could enable low-cost space missions in the future.”

Conventional spacecraft are limited by the capacity of their fuel and engines. For solar sails, the issue that will determine their lifespan is the durability of the materials used and the control systems. On the other hand, very large vehicles with this system are not currently being produced. For example ACS3from NanoAvionics 23x23x34 centimeter It is designed as a cube satellite about the size of A standard microwave oven is therefore larger than this satellite.

NASA’s Ames Research Center Mission Lead Systems Engineer Alan Rhodes“The two-meter long deployable arms can be rolled into a shape that fits in the palm of your hand. he said. The spacecraft will orbit about 1,000 kilometers above Earth and will be visible on clear nights thanks to the reflectivity of the sail materials. NASA will use flight data obtained during tests of ACS3 to design future composite solar sail systems for space early warning, surveillance and solar observation missions.