Image courtesy of the Planetary Society
To celebrate today’s announcement (about the Time magazine article) the mission team released a new image from the spacecraft, taken on 28 September 2019. LIGHTSAIL 2 WITH SUN ON THE HORIZON – the Sun peeks over the horizon in this image from LightSail 2 captured on 28 September 2019. The sail appears curved due to the spacecraft’s 185-degree fisheye camera lens. The image has been color corrected and some of the distortion has been removed. (From the 11/21/2019 Kickstarter announcement)
In today’s (11/22/2019) Time Magazine, the LIghtsail was listed in the 100 Best Inventions of 2019.
It’s still up there. Still circling – well, ovaling at this point – the Earth. If you want to follow it, go to the Planetary Society Mission Control. One hundred forty-three days elapsed mission time. Battery charge down to 3.68 volts (from max of 4.2). When I looked this morning, it was a little cool at -5.5 degrees F and about to pass into daylight over the Pacific Ocean.