For only the third time in history, astronomers have detected a new interstellar visitor — an object from another star — blitzing into our solar system.

UF engineers, backed by DARPA and NASA, are perfecting laser-forming techniques that let metal sheets fold themselves into giant solar arrays, antennas, and even space-station parts right in ...

Algae grown under Mars-like conditions could make bioplastic building materials for structures to harbor life in space.

Scientists have proposed two experimental spacecraft that could reach one of the farthest known objects in the solar system ...

LightSail 2 Unfurls, Next Step Toward Space Travel by Solar Sail The Planetary Society deployed LightSail 2, aiming to further demonstrate the potential of the technology for space propulsion.

The Planetary Society announced this week that the LightSail 2 craft has raised its orbit by 3.2 kilometers (1.9 miles) since its solar sail opened up on July 23.

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 These images show the progression of LightSail 2’s solar sail deployment sequence, which began on July 23, 2019 at 18:47 UTC. The Planetary Society ...

The Planetary Society also launched Lightsail 1 back in 2015 and, despite a few problems, it was able to unfurl its own sail – although it did not demonstrate controlled solar sailing as ...

The Planetary Society has declared its LightSail 2 mission a success after it did just that. The satellite deployed its solar ail last week, and now it has successfully maneuvered in space without ...

The Planetary Society reports its LightSail 2 (LS 2) spacecraft propulsion demonstration has achieved mission success. Within days of the July 23 deployment of its 32-m-sq. (344-ft.-sq.) solar ...

The Planetary Society’s LightSail 2 spacecraft has fulfilled its mission, demonstrating controlled solar sailing in orbit around Earth for the first time ...