NASA’s solar sail successfully spreads its wings in space

NASA's ACS3 solar sail launched on April 24 via Rocket Lab's Electron and on Aug. 29, NASA verified the technology had fully deployed in space

More than four months after launching to space, a solar-sailing spacecraft has successfully spread its wings above our planet.

NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) caught a ride to space on April 24 on Rocket Lab’s Electron vehicle and, at the end of August, NASA shared in a release that its mission operators verified the technology reached full deployment in space. On Thursday, Aug. 29 at 1:33 p.m. EDT (5:33 UTC), the team obtained data indicating the test of the sail-hoisting boom system was a success.

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Source: SPACE.com

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