# Lightsail - sail unfurled **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 27, 2019, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightsail-sail-unfurled/837726 "2019-07-27T19:16:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightsail-sail-unfurled/837726/1 "2019-07-27T19:16:28Z")
The Planetary Society’s Lightsail 2 spacecraft has scuccessfully deployed its sails: > **[LightSail 2 Successfully Deploys Solar Sail](https://www.planetary.org/articles/ls2-deploys-sail)** > > Images from The Planetary Society's spacecraft confirm the solar sails deployed on 23 July 2019 at 11:47 PDT (18:47 UTC). Brian ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightsail-sail-unfurled/837726/2 "2019-07-27T19:26:11Z")
This is really cool. I’m curious about next steps. How can orbit be stabilized? Could something like this be used to propel things other than satellites? How big a system would be viable? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightsail-sail-unfurled/837726/3 "2019-07-27T19:28:22Z")
Pretty cool isn’t it? Very glad it worked. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightsail-sail-unfurled/837726/4 "2019-07-27T19:36:51Z")
I bet I could get another knot and a half out of that thing with a little proper sail trimming. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightsail-sail-unfurled/837726/5 "2019-07-27T19:38:47Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > Lightsail – sail unfurled. Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightsail-sail-unfurled/837726/6 "2019-07-27T19:42:13Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > This is really cool. I’m curious about next steps. How can orbit be stabilized? Could something like this be used to propel things other than satellites? How big a system would be viable? It has been discussed to use a truly huge sail to bring a large ship to the outer edges of the solar system. Also to use a really large sail to send a small probe to another star. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightsail-sail-unfurled/837726/7 "2019-07-27T19:53:59Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra. Dork at the Star Trek convention. ETA: 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2019, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightsail-sail-unfurled/837726/8 "2019-07-28T13:13:12Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra. Reminds of something a person with food stuck in their throat would say. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2019, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightsail-sail-unfurled/837726/9 "2019-07-28T20:25:35Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Dork at the Star Trek convention. > ETA: 😉 I have NEVER been to a Star Trek convention. The one time I was within 500 miles and would have gone, my TOS Starfleet Uniform was at the other end of the country and my CO wouldn’t give me a pass Oh, you meant the other guy.