The launch should take place in October this year, and by 2025 they plan to send the ship to another planet
A ship with a sail will be launched into space / Photo: The Guardian
Sailing ships plowed the oceans of the Earth several centuries ago, and now they want to resort to the same practice in space exploration. Only the driving force will not be the wind, but sunlight.
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French aerospace company Gama has raised 2 million euros to deploy a solar sail in space, according to theguardian.com.
The company plans to deploy a 73.3 square meter solar sail in October. m in an orbit with a height of 550 km – this is higher than the International Space Station is spinning.
Gama hopes to demonstrate that solar sails can revolutionize deep space access because they are cost-effective and scalable in size.
As planned by the developers, solar sails do not require engines for movement. Instead, they are pushed by the pressure of sunlight. The angle of the sail determines the direction of travel.
The most surprising thing is that the French will not be pioneers in this area. In 2010, the Japanese launched the Ikaros experimental spacecraft to Venus. The spacecraft was a kite with solar panels sewn inside.
After testing this year’s deployment, Gama plans to launch the next mission in 2024 to a higher orbit to demonstrate control and onboard navigation. And in 2025, they hope to follow the Japanese to fly to Venus. By the way, earlier it became known that NASA also wants to send people to Venus.
Source: Segodnya
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