Sailing to the Stars ISS Experiment: Results and Conclusions From Light Sail Deployments in Microgravity

Résumé fourni par la source

Sailing to the Stars is a mission to test the deployment of free-flying light sails on the International Space Station (ISS). The objective is to understand how different deployer designs affect the stability of both the CubeSat Deployer and the light sail during and after the deployment event. Data from the IMU onboard the deployer and video footage from wall-mounted cameras are used to analyze these dynamics. The findings shall inform the design of future missions that employ this free-flying ChipSat-sail architecture. The hardware launched with Crew-11 on August 1st, 2025. Nicole Ayers conducted the experiment on August 3rd, 2025. The mission successfully tested two deployer designs three times each within the ISS. This poster and accompanying paper present the results.

Ce résumé expose les affirmations des auteurs. BNTIC ne l’interprète pas comme une validation indépendante des résultats.