News from Ares Institute of a Kickstarter campaign to fund a lunar solar sail :

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – In 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the Moon. Forty-four years later, an enterprising non-profit is building the first privately-owned spacecraft for launch into lunar orbit and using crowdfunding and social media on the internet to enable the public to participate. Named LunarSail, the goal of the project is to give students and the public the opportunity to participate in developing a spacecraft that will not only go into space, but also travel to the Moon while conducting science experiments.

LunarSail will use what is known as a CubeSat to demonstrate the ability of a spacecraft under solar sail propulsion to navigate itself into a lunar trajectory and insert itself into lunar orbit. It will show the practical application of solar sail technology for propulsion, trajectory/attitude control and rendezvous with another body in space. This will be a first of its kind mission to use a solar sail to send a spacecraft to the Moon and then utilize the sail’s unique characteristics to navigate into lunar orbit.

LunarSail will be the first spacecraft to orbit another body in the solar system using only the propulsion provided by a solar sail. Fundamentally, solar sails utilize the solar wind to provide the “push” to propel a spacecraft through space. Theoretically, they may be effective anywhere inside the solar system where the solar wind is present. In practice, a solar sail uses an ultrathin membrane that is deployed in space to form a sail not unlike that on a sailboat. The sail is controlled and maneuvered so that it is able to use the force and direction of the solar wind to literally sail through space, guiding itself much as a sailboat changes trajectory by altering the position of its sail against the wind.

To date, the most successful solar sails that have been launch were NASA’s NanoSail-D which orbited Earth in 2010-11 and the Japanese IKAROS that was sent from Earth toward the inner solar system and even flew by Venus. NASA plans to launch a giant solar sail to an orbit past the Moon next year. However, LunarSail will be both the first solar sail to orbit a planet or moon and the first “nanosatellite” to do so. It will also be the first crowdfunded CubeSat to be sent beyond Earth orbit.

Real science in a small package

Assembled in cube-shaped packages with dimensions just 10 centimeters on each side, CubeSats have enabled economical space access for industrial, academic and private organizations. These groups previously have had a difficult time affording the high costs associated with developing and launching larger satellites. CubeSats, however, can cost less than $50,000 from design to launch, putting them within reach of universities and mid-sized organizations. In fact, it has been possible for some groups to obtain rides to orbit at no cost, bringing the total cost down closer to $10,000.

Despite their small size, CubeSats are capable of doing meaningful science experiments and observations, thanks to the widespread availability of miniaturized electronic components. Our project has two primary science objectives. The spacecraft will take several months to reach the Moon and this will enable us to make detailed observations of the region of space between the Earth and Moon. The spacecraft will measure the environment, including radiation and solar wind dynamics as well as micrometeoroid impacts in this region of space. Once captured by the Moon’s gravity, LunarSail will follow a complex orbital pattern as it settles into a final stable lunar orbit. During this time, we will be able to create detailed 3D maps of the gravitational field and flow of the solar wind around the Moon. Mapping the gravity around the Moon will enable us to create an accurate picture of its internal structure.

A space mission for everyone, by everyone

We are using this project to promote space exploration and STEM education and so we are inviting the public and student especially to take an active role in the mission using various activities in a concept we call “citizen space mission”.

First, engineering students, amateur radio enthusiasts and others with similar interests will be involved in the assembly, testing and science observations of the mission. Individuals will also contribute hardware, labor, programming and their own ideas and will be participants and co-owners of the mission and its success.

To bring the public into the project at the most basic level, we are utilizing crowdfunding on the internet via Kickstarter, Indiegogo and Rockethub to raise the funds needed to complete the spacecraft. Crowdfunding has become a popular means of raising money for grass-roots individual creative and technology projects. Recently, a crowdfunded spacecraft project raised over $1.5 million on Kickstarter. We aren’t looking to raise nearly that much but there has been an enthusiastic response from people around the country and we are already well over halfway to meeting our fundraising goal. The money raised will go directly to purchasing the components that will make up the spacecraft. It will be built solely with volunteer labor.

Because of the focus on public outreach, we’re integrating social media into every aspect of the project, from development and assembly through launch and once the spacecraft is in space. The public is invited to submit messages, graphics, music and short video clips that will be stored onboard the spacecraft. We are particularly interested in contributions from students, artists, musicians and other creative individuals. Once in lunar orbit, LunarSail will play back each recording on a small video screen while a camera is trained on it with the Moon in the background. The video will be played back for viewing by anyone in the world with internet access. The sight of Earth rising over the Moon behind someone’s video recording being played back will become a highly-prized memento of the mission for the contributor.

We are also creating interactive educational materials and classroom lessons that will enable young students and their teachers to participate in activities designed around mission and learn about the important of space exploration and science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education.

An open source space mission

LunarSail is an open source project. Except for restricted or third-party proprietary material, hardware designs and source code will be available to the general public on the project website. LunarSail’s primary computer is planned to be based on the Raspberry Pi single-board computer running an open source real-time operating system. As with other aspects of the project, anyone with skills that may contribute to the success of the mission is being invited to participate.

LunarSail will make history as the first successful solar sail mission conducted by the private sector and the first solar sail to orbit another celestial body. Most importantly, LunarSail is a mission of inspiration and exploration. It will inspire young students to pursue careers in science and engineering. For the wider public audience, the mission will demonstrate the importance of a vibrant commercial space industry and space exploration.

To see our campaign on Kickstarter, go to:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/aresinstituteinc/lunarsail-the-worlds-first-crowdsourced-solar-sail

For more information about LunarSail, visit the project at:

http://www.lunarsail.com.

ABOUT ARES INSTITUTE, INC.

Founded in 2002, the Aerospace Research & Engineering Systems Institute, Inc. is a 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit organization dedicated to promoting space exploration and STEM education through hands-on educational projects and public outreach. The Institute manages innovative programs such as LunarSail in order to give young students and the public the opportunity to work on real-world space-related projects, ARES Institute also engages in extensive public outreach including the online publication Zero-G News (zerognews.com) and a forthcoming trade magazine, Aerospace Florida. Contributions to ARES Institute are tax-deductible to the full extent permissible by law. For more information, visit http://www.aresinstitute.org.