Sailing into space

This summer, NASA plans to propel a satellite the size of a loaf of bread through space with an ultra-thin, 100-square-foot sail called NanoSail-D.

Developed and constructed in just six months as the result of a partnership between Marshall Space Flight Center and Ames Research Center, NASA will ride the sail into space on an upcoming flight of the new Falcon 1 launch vehicle developed by Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, California. The launch is scheduled for take place from Omelek Island in the Pacific Ocean.

Once in space, a Poly Picosatellite Orbital Deployer, or P-POD, developed at the University of California Polytechnic Institute, will be used to deploy the sail.

'NanoSail-D will be the first fully deployed solar sail in space, and the first spacecraft to use solar pressure as a primary means of attitude control or orbital maneuvering,' said Edward Montgomery, who works at Marshall Space Flight Center as the NanoSail-D's payload manager.