Among the many spacecraft and satellites ascending to space on Monday's Falcon Heavy launch, the Planetary Society's LightSail 2 may be the most interesting. If all goes well, a week from launch ...

Crowdfunded spacecraft LightSail 2 is making good on its name, after successfully unfurling its solar sail in orbit so that it can begin propelling itself using the force of light alone.

The LightSail 2 spacecraft has successfully changed orbits using only the power of sunlight, opening the door to a new, cost-effective way to propel small craft.

LightSail 2 unfurled its 32-square-meter (344-square-foot) solar sail on July 23, around one month after it was deposited into low Earth orbit by a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.

These ultrathin sails could achieve speeds never before imagined. But building and testing these sails is a complex ...

According to the scientists behind the project, LightSail 2 has successfully raised the highest point of its orbit, and it did so without any conventional built-in propulsion system.

LightSail 2 was packed aboard the Falcon Heavy as part of a larger payload called Prox-1 and delivered to orbit on June 25. Since then, the spacecraft has been going through checkouts and snapping ...

The private organization, headed by Bill Nye, launched LightSail on May 20 aboard an Atlas V rocket. Two days later the "cube sat" went silent due to a suspected software glitch .

LightSail 2 is the first steerable solar sail ever launched into orbit around Earth. Its solar sail is about the size of a boxing ring, and made from a thin mylar material. It blossomed on Tuesday ...

Last week, the LightSail 2 officially made its first contact with Earth. The solar-powered spacecraft will be sailing around Earth’s orbit for the n ...

A lightsail is a large reflective surface deployed in front of a spacecraft, where it can harness either sunlight or light from an Earth-based laser to continually accelerate the vehicle. In theory, ...