Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Long before anyone considered exploring space with thrusters, German ...

After three years in space, the Planetary Society’s LightSail 2 mission burned up in the atmosphere on Thursday, November 17th. During its mission, the crowdfunded spacecraft made 18,000 orbits of the ...

The LightSail 2, a crowdfunded solar sail designed by Bill Nye’s nonprofit organization, The Planetary Society, recently flew through space powered solely by sunlight. In technical terms, the craft ...

LightSail 2 will be very shiny after it deploys its sail. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. The Planetary Society's solar-sailing ...

After more than three years circling the Earth, the Planetary Society’s LightSail 2 mission has come to an end following a fiery reentry. The satellite was an important tech demo for the idea of solar ...

It wasn't exactly smooth sailing, but The Planetary Society's cubesat got the job done in the end. The tiny LightSail spacecraft overcame a battery problem — the second glitch it suffered after ...

After going silent in orbit for more than eight days, the LightSail spacecraft has finally made contact with Earth again. The tiny vehicle was launched to test solar sail technology in space by ...