Lightsail 2 Solar Sailing Project Work at Purdue
Channel: Purdue Engineering
Date: 06/11/2018

Purdue University professor, David Spencer is leading an effort to send a CubeSat up for an attempted controlled solar sailing in Earth’s orbit. Solar sailing uses reflective sails to harness the momentum of sunlight for propulsion.   Full story:  http://bit.ly/2zByJM2

This project is sponsored by the citizen-funded Planetary Society, whose CEO is Bill Nye the Science Guy. 

The CubeSat, LightSail 2, is one payload as part of the Air Force’s Space Test Program-2 (STP-2) mission that will launch on the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in early 2019.  Spencer’s research team will be tracking LightSail 2, receiving the signal from the spacecraft as well as commanding the spacecraft during operations, from the Space Flight Projects Lab at the Purdue Technology Center.  https://engineering.purdue.edu/SFPL

Featured Purdue Researchers:  
David Spencer, Associate Professor, School of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Justin Mansell, Graduate Research Assistant , School of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Video Credits: 
Lightsail 1 and Lightsail 2 video provided by Planetary Society http://www.planetary.org/explore/projects/lightsail-solar-sailing/

Solar storm video from NASA Goddard https://youtu.be/Ski2JSA-Xh0

Music: "Wasted Briatin" by Scott Holmes via freemusicarchive.org


SUBSCRIBE TO PURDUE ENGINEERING:

Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/subscribe-engr-youtube
For the latest news, visit: http://engineering.purdue.edu/News
Like us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/PurdueEngineering
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PurdueEngineers
Heart us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/rPurdueEngineers

Contact us about this video: purdueengineeringvideo@gmail.com

Purdue University's College of Engineering is among the largest in the United States and includes 13 academic programs, all with high rankings. U.S. News and World Report ranks Purdue Engineering in the Top 10 nationwide.

#purdue #lightsail #planetarysociety