{"id":10661,"date":"2015-05-27T01:34:36","date_gmt":"2015-05-27T05:34:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10661"},"modified":"2015-05-27T01:34:36","modified_gmt":"2015-05-27T05:34:36","slug":"planetary-society-waits-to-hear-from-the-lightsail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10661","title":{"rendered":"Planetary Society waits to hear from the LightSail"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Planetary Society<\/a>‘s first LightSail<\/a>, a prototype solar sail, went to orbit last week (see post here<\/a>). For several days communications with the spacecraft went well. The plan was to wait until mid-June to unfurl the sail. However, late in the week a software flaw\u00a0caused the system to shut down and now the\u00a0control team\u00a0waits\u00a0for it to reboot and call home again:\u00a0Software Glitch Pauses LightSail Test Mission –\u00a0The Planetary Society<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This sort of problem often happens with these small satellite projects. Usually the satellites do wake up but there’s is no guarantee. So the LightSail team could be in for an anxious few days.<\/p>\n

If the LightSail does re-connect, it appears it will be commanded to unfurl the sail very soon\u00a0rather than risk another shutdown.<\/p>\n

The latest episode of Planetary Radio reviews the launch and\u00a0the subsequent software problem :\u00a0The Launch of LightSail –\u00a0The Planetary Society<\/a>.\u00a0Listen to the audio (mp3)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Find the latest updates at the\u00a0Mission Control Center –\u00a0The Planetary Society<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Planetary Society‘s first LightSail, a prototype solar sail, went to orbit last week (see post here). For several days communications with the spacecraft went well. The plan was to wait until mid-June to unfurl the sail. However, late in the week a software flaw\u00a0caused the system to shut down and now the\u00a0control team\u00a0waits\u00a0for it … Continue reading Planetary Society waits to hear from the LightSail<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,35,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-diy-space","category-space-systems"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34aWK-2LX","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10678,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10678","url_meta":{"origin":10661,"position":0},"title":"Planetary Society’s LightSail awakens and sends a signal","author":"TopSpacer","date":"May 31, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"[ Update June.1.15: The LightSail spacecraft may unfurl its solar sail this week:\u00a0LightSail Team Prepares for Possible Tuesday Sail Deployment -\u00a0The Planetary Society. This afternoon, mission managers gave the go-ahead for a manual solar sail deployment as early as Tuesday, June 2 at 11:44 a.m. EDT (15:44 UTC), providing the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Activism"","block_context":{"text":"Activism","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10709,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10709","url_meta":{"origin":10661,"position":1},"title":"Update on the Planetary Society’s LightSail","author":"TopSpacer","date":"June 3, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The saga of the Planetary Society's LightSail\u00a0spacecraft\u00a0(see earlier post) continues. The control team decided to deploy only the solar panels today (Wednesday) and, if that went well, unfurl the solar sail on Friday:\u00a0LightSail Deployment Update: Panels Wednesday, Sails Friday -\u00a0The Planetary Society. Data indicates that the\u00a0deployment of the solar panels\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Activism"","block_context":{"text":"Activism","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12272,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=12272","url_meta":{"origin":10661,"position":2},"title":"Video: Planetary Society’s LightSail 2 tests its sail","author":"TopSpacer","date":"March 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is an update on the Planetary Society's LightSail 2 project:\u00a0Meet LightSail 2, The Planetary Society's new solar sailing CubeSat -\u00a0The Planetary Society. Last June, LightSail 1 successfully tested the deployment of its sail in orbit. The goal of LightSail 2 is to achieve\u00a0propulsion from the pressure of sunlight. It\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Activism"","block_context":{"text":"Activism","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/K7UBWz2mvro\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10622,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10622","url_meta":{"origin":10661,"position":3},"title":"Planetary Society LightSail in orbit","author":"TopSpacer","date":"May 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Atlas V launch mentioned earlier went off well on Wednesday: https:\/\/youtu.be\/l7Riq9rr4ao The X-37B and the ten CubeSats secondary payloads were deployed, including the Planetary Society's LightSail and it began transmitting its status: Liftoff! LightSail Sails into Space aboard Atlas V Rocket - The Planetary Society LightSail Sends First Data\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Activism"","block_context":{"text":"Activism","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/l7Riq9rr4ao\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10614,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10614","url_meta":{"origin":10661,"position":4},"title":"Planetary Society’s LightSail to launch on Atlas V – Kickstarter raising funds","author":"TopSpacer","date":"May 20, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"A solar sail prototype called the LightSail, built by the\u00a0Planetary Society, will be one of secondary payloads on an Atlas V rocket set to be launched on Wednesday. The primary payload is one of the\u00a0US Air Force's reusble\u00a0X-37B spaceplanes.\u00a0The sail is packed into a tiny CubeSat. The sail unfurls from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Activism"","block_context":{"text":"Activism","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"DeploymentFromCentaur","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/DeploymentFromCentaur.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10715,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10715","url_meta":{"origin":10661,"position":5},"title":"The LightSail goes silent once more","author":"TopSpacer","date":"June 4, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"After coming\u00a0back to life and appearing to deploy its solar panels, the Planetary Society's\u00a0LightSail\u00a0 has gone quiet again, probably due to drained batteries. They are expected to recharge eventually and allow the spacecraft to resume communicating:\u00a0LightSail Falls Silent; Battery Glitch Suspected -\u00a0The Planetary Society\u00a0- If LightSail is suffering from a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Activism"","block_context":{"text":"Activism","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10661"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10662,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10661\/revisions\/10662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}