LightSail 2 proved flight by light is possible, now passes the torch to NASA

The Planetary Society originally expected the spacecraft to stay in orbit for less than a year, but it circled Earth for almost three and a half years. Now, the team will crunch the data from their mission and share the results with the world.

"I feel a mixture of sadness at the loss of our spacecraft, although it was always expected, as well as pride in what we’ve accomplished,” Betts explained, “and a sense of anticipation of the coming months of analyzing data from the mission and sharing our results.” that LightSail 2 had raised its orbit around the Earth to as high as 729 kilometers in the two weeks since it had been deployed. This means the spacecraft was able to raise its orbit by 1.9 miles in total using only sunlight.Now that the spaceflight portion of the LightSail 2 mission is complete, the Planetary Society will work hard to compile all of its results and reveal its findings to the scientific community and the public.

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