26 June 2019
LightSail 2 gets ready to make its debut in space
... theory was a viable one. In 1980, along with Bruce Murray and Louis Friedman, Sagan co-founded The Planetary Society to “empower the world's citizens to advance space science and exploration.” With his celebrity and political status blooming, Sagan...
24 July 2019
LightSail 2 unfurls its sails and soars through space
...was angled to within 30 degrees of its expected orientation—a promising early sign the spacecraft is tracking the Sun properly,” The Planetary Society shared via its website. However the society also reported that, “LightSail 2 did not rise far above...
January 2017
New oceans beckon for solar sail technology
..., LightSail-A. This was a 3U CubeSat mission that deployed a 32 square metre sail similar to the NanoSail-D, only larger. The Planetary Society plans to fly LightSail-2 sometime in 2017 to demonstrate deployment and control of a sailcraft in Earth...
January 2017
Elon Musk and Mars - looking for a snowball effect
...” of Musk’s “extremely sub-optimal” plan, and likewise commented adversely on its gigantism. Bill Nye, CEO of the Planetary Society, pointed out in interviews that living on Mars would be like living in Antarctica, only worse, and questioned whether...
March 2015
Chasing comets together: the Vega project in the USSR and beyond
... out to see what the Russians brought. We tested the equipment’s working efficiency prior to traveling out into the desert for testing. At the request of Louis Friedman, executive director of The Planetary Society, we held an exhibition performance...
September 2017
Plans for high-speed lunar rovers
...1 A. Zak, “NASA, ISS partners quietly completing design of possible Moon-orbiting space station,” The Planetary Society, 09 03 2017. [Online]. Available: http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/2017/20170309-nasa-iss-partners-cislunar-station.html...
