LightSail-B successfully deployed sail

On Thursday, January 28, the first deployment of the solar sail was successfully completed as part of the start of tests to prepare LightSail-B for launch on the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle. The opening of the sail was the last stage in the first round of trials.

LightSail-B is the second amateur satellite of the LightSail series . The first in the series, the satellite LightSail-A successfully went to the flight on May 20, 2015. But after a week I “disappeared” because of a software error .

After an accidental reboot of the device by cosmic radiation, the connection was restored, but then the connection was lost again, and the connection was restored again. It was decided to proceed as soon as possible to the main tests and open the sail. The sail, only 4.5 microns thick, opened successfully, a photo of the sail was obtained with a single satellite camera , and the reflection of the sail was photographed by astronomers on Earth.

Because of the low orbit, where the atmosphere is heavily influenced, the sail began to slow down the satellite strongly and soon the satellite descended from orbit, fully completing the test program.

The second satellite will be launched in September 2016 on Falcon Heavy along with the Prox-1 satellite, which is designed to perform a series of experiments paired with LightSail-B, in particular, to observe it from the side.

Both satellites together will go to a higher orbit (altitude 750 km), sufficient to avoid deceleration about the atmosphere. In this orbit, the separation of two satellites will be performed, and then closer to the Prox-1 satellite. Later will be demonstrated the possibility of movement on the "solar burden".
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Photo of the unfolded sail on a table with a low friction surface:


Other photos can be viewed at the link . Previously, testing of new software was completed . In the next round of testing, all systems will be tested together.