• JAXA

    A camera that separated from Japan's Ikaros solar sail looks back to snap a picture of the fully deployed sail in outer space.

    See the solar sail in space

    Japan's Ikaros solar sail has sent back stunning self-portraits that show the experimental craft fully deployed like a 46-foot-square kite in outer space. The pictures were taken 6 million miles (10 million kilometers) from Earth by 2.5-inch-long (6-centimeter-long), spring-loaded cylindrical cameras that popped out from the spacecraft's central hub for this very purpose. These schematics show more clearly how the mini-cameras work.

    The experimental Ikaros spacecraft, launched on May 20 along with Japan's Venus orbiter, is designed to help scientists find out whether solar sails can actually be propelled by the pressure of the sun's rays. Ikaros' thin panels also have a layer of photoelectric cells that could generate additional power for the spacecraft. If the test works ... and we may not know that for weeks or months ... future solar sails may be built to fly to other worlds or other stars.

    For additional perspectives on solar sailing, check out the reports from the Planetary Society's Emily Lakdawalla and Discovery News' Irene Klotz.

    Ikaros sail

    JAXA

    A picture beamed back to Earth shows a closeup of the fully deployed Ikaros solar sail.

  • Solar sail spreads its wings

    An image sent back from the Ikaros spacecraft shows a portion of its solar sail being unfurled.

    Japan's space agency stretched out its Ikaros solar sail today, but it remains to be seen whether the experimental craft's paper-thin panels are capable of catching a "wave" of solar radiation and putting the sci-fi-flavored propulsion method to its first interplanetary test.

    Ikaros was launched on May 20 atop an H-2A rocket from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center, along with a Venus orbiter known as Akatsuki. The solar-sail spacecraft's name pays tribute to Icarus, the young man from Greek myth who flew too close to the sun on wings of wax, but it's also an acronym standing for "Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun."

    After separating from Akatsuki, Ikaros began unfolding four panels that, when fully unfurled, should look like a square kite measuring 66 feet (20 meters) along its diagonal. Pictures sent back by a camera mounted on the spacecraft's hub show the extension of four booms holding the panels, plus the unfurling of sail material. This is the "primary deployment" of the sail. During the secondary stage of deployment, the sail is stretched out to its full extent.

    Centauri Dreams passes along hints that the secondary deployment has finished up as well, 4.6 million miles (7.5 million kilometers) from Earth, and says the day's developments qualify as "good news for the sail." But the crucial part of the experiment still lies ahead: Can Ikaros propel itself using the sun's power?

    Ikaros

    JAXA

    An artist's conception shows Ikaros in its fully unfurled configuration.

    The craft is designed to be pushed by the pressure of the sun's photons on the thin panels, which are covered with photoelectric cells to generate electricity. If the experiment works, future solar sails might be equipped with electric-powered ion engines as a second propulsion method.

    So far, solar sails have provided propulsion only in science-fiction tales. In the "Star Wars" saga, for example, Count Dooku uses a solar-sail sloop to slip stealthily between scenes. Solar sails also make appearances in the Arthur C. Clarke short story "Sunjammer," last year's mega-movie "Avatar" and other fictional locales.

    The nonprofit Planetary Society tried to do solar sailing for real with its Cosmos 1 spacecraft in 2005, but the project was doomed by the failure of its Russian submarine-based launch vehicle. That setback didn't deter the society. Now it's planning to launch a series of LightSail spacecraft starting next year, and so it's watching the Ikaros test with more than usual interest. Louis Friedman, executive director of the Planetary Society, told Wired Science that Ikaros' success would represent a "milestone."

    Another milestone for the Japanese space effort is coming up on Sunday, when the Hayabusa probe is due to drop a sample return capsule into Australia's Woomera Test Range. The probe visited the asteroid Itokawa five years ago, and the capsule may (or may not) contain pieces of the asteroid itself. Hayabusa suffered numerous glitches on the way back, but the latest word is that the capsule is on track for a successful re-entry.

    More on Ikaros and Hayabusa:

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  • Delayed gratification for space geeks

    AP

    The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket sits on its launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

    Two of the debutantes on the final frontier - SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and the Planetary Society's Lightsail 1 solar sail - will be making their debut a bit later than planned. Another space newbie, the first in a new series of GPS navigation satellites, was finally launched after a couple of technical delays.

    Falcon 9: June at the earliest
    The Falcon 9 is designed to carry cargo to the International Space Station for NASA at a fraction of the cost of a space shuttle flight. Someday, it may carry astronauts into orbit as well, if NASA's current vision for future spaceflight works out. As we discussed earlier this week, there are those (particularly on Capitol Hill) who worry that SpaceX and other commercial launch providers (even well-established companies such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin) won't be able to deliver safe, reliable space service. The success or failure of the first Falcon 9 demonstration could change the character of this multibillion-dollar debate.

    Liftoff is set to take place at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, but the Air Force still has to sign off on SpaceX's flight termination system - basically, the "self-destruct button" that would have to be pushed if the launch goes awry. In the meantime, the Air Force had other space matters to deal with, such as the repeated delays in the launch of a next-generation GPS 2F-1 satellite atop a Delta 4 rocket.

    "Looks like the delay of the Delta IV GPS satellite launch has taken up a lot of resources at the Cape and in turn pushed the first test launch of Falcon 9 from May 28/29 to no earlier than June 2/3," SpaceX spokeswoman Emily Shanklin said in an e-mail to reporters.

    That Delta 4 was launched from the Cape on Thursday night, and on Friday, Shanklin sent a follow-up e-mail saying the Falcon 9 launch date was being delayed yet again: "Due to delays in the recent GPS satellite launch, Air Force range safety officials unfortunately did not have the resources to process our final documentation. SpaceX is now looking at no earlier than Friday, June 4, for its first test launch attempt."

    Space News has still more about SpaceX's anticipated launch schedule, including ... you guessed it ... more delays.

    Lightsail 1: Spring of 2011 at the earliest
    The nonprofit Planetary Society says that development work on its solar-sail mission "is proceeding well." Lightsail 1 is destined to be launched into an orbit 500 miles (800 kilometers) above Earth, and then unfurl an 18.5-foot-wide array of reflective plastic panels. Solar radiation should propel the sail through space like a breeze on a kite.

    Oil spill

    David Imbaratto / Stellar Exploration for Planetary Society

    An artist's conception shows the Planetary Society's
    Lightsail 1 solar sail in space.

    The same principle is employed on Japan's Ikaros solar-sail experiment, which was launched last week and by all reports is still on track.

    The Planetary Society had hoped to launch Lightsail 1 by the end of this year, but today's update indicates that the timetable has been stretched out, with liftoff now set for no earlier than the second quarter of next year. That's no surprise: The society's executive director, Louis Friedman, signaled that there would likely be a delay when I chatted with him in March.

    Check out the full update for details about how Lightsail 1's design is being tweaked.

    More for space geeks
    This has been a big week for space week, and not just because it's Geek Week on "The Rachel Maddow Show." We had a shuttle landing on Wednesday, the House hearing on space policy ... and to top it all off, the International Space Development Conference is under way in Chicago. I'm not able to attend this year, but you can keep posted on the goings-on by checking Space Transport News, or keeping track of Twitter updates with the #isdc or #isdc2010 hashtag.

    There's already talk of new X Prize space competitions - for example, to deflect potentially hazardous asteroids, or get rid of space debris, or put beamed-power technologies to new tests. The X Prize Foundation's Will Pomerantz said such concepts are indeed in the works, although nothing is yet set in stone. "These are not just ideas written down on a paper for fun," he told me. So stay tuned for more geek gratification to come.

    This report was last updated at 9:45 p.m. ET May 28. Join the Cosmic Log corps by signing up as my Facebook friend or hooking up on Twitter. And if you really want to be friendly, ask me about "The Case for Pluto."