A crowd-funded spacecraft, the LightSail 2, has become the latest to fly on celestial winds. While wind as we know it certainly doesn’t blow in space, the ship can directly harness something ...

Two weeks after entering solar sailing mode, the Planetary Society’s LightSail 2 spacecraft has managed to raise its orbit by nearly 2 miles, in an important test of this promising new means of ...

The Planetary Society's LightSail 2 spacecraft is finally ready to attempt flight by light. Here's what to expect from the June 24 launch!

LightSail 2 spacecraft captured this image on June 11, 2022, which shows Madagascar and a portion of Mozambique. Image: The Planetary Society For the past three years, a tiny loaf-of-bread-sized ...

Science Space Private Space Flight The solar-powered LightSail 2 spacecraft took one last look at Earth before burning up After 18,000 trips around the world, the spacecraft ends its journey.

The Planetary Society has declared "mission success" on LightSail 2, its crowdfunded solar sailing CubeSat traveling around the planet. While LightSail 2 successfully unfurled its sail last week ...

Among the many spacecraft and satellites ascending to space on Monday's Falcon Heavy launch, the Planetary Society's LightSail 2 may be the most interesting. If all goes well, a week from launch ...

The LightSail 2, a small spacecraft powered solely by the sun's rays, has successfully unfurled and is now flying through low Earth orbit (LEO). Built by The Planetary Society, a non-profit co ...

The nonprofit Planetary Society says its LightSail 2 experiment spread out its solar sails today, nearly a month after it rode to orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.

"The LightSail 2 mission is a game-changer for spaceflight and advancing space exploration," said Bill Nye, whose Planetary Society funded the project.

Once the LightSail 2 is nudged into space, it will boot up, deploy its antenna, and begin sending out health and status information beacons. The team will spend several days conducting health ...