A privately funded space project to demonstrate an innovative solar sail passed with flying colors despite a series of near-fatal technical issues, program managers said on Wednesday.
The 11-pound (5 kg) LightSail spacecraft, tucked inside a 4- by 4- by 12-inch (10- by 10- by 3-cm) box, hitched a ride into orbit aboard an Atlas 5 rocket carrying the U.S. Air Force's X-37B robot space plane on May 20.
Funded by members of The Planetary Society, a California-based space advocacy organization, LightSail was intended to demonstrate how a tiny motor could unfurl four thin Mylar films into an area as big as a living room.