Solar sail «Light Cell 2» has achieved its mission

The American company Planetarium Society announced the success of its LightSilver 2 probe, a lunar probe powered by solar energy that could rise despite the pressures of solar radiation.

The team indicated that the value of the $ 7 million project enabled it to demonstrate a new form of payment that could move deep space exploration forward.

LightSale 2 is a very small satellite equipped with a giant "solar" sail in polystyrene polished which is the only engine.

"Over the past four days, the sensor has increased about 1.7 km thanks to its solar sail," said Bruce Bates, project director. It is the first spacecraft to use solar energy as a propulsion force on the Earth's orbit and the second solar sail successfully launched after the Japanese Icaros in 2010.

"We have officially announced the success of the mission," said Bill Nay, director of the Planetary Society.

"This technology allows us to send vehicles to wonderful solar system destinations and even further, in a way that was impossible before, because we do not need fuel or fuel systems. fuel control. "

He hoped that this technology would be applied to missions such as searching for traces of life on Mars, the moon of Jupiter, and so on. He added that solar sails could enable him to "reduce the cost of these missions".

This concept has nurtured the dreams of astronomers for decades. The idea is to launch vehicles in the space without engine, without fuel or solar panels, paying only by the unconscious photons of the sun.