NASA’s newly unfurled solar sail has started ‘tumbling’ end-over-end in orbit, surprising observations show
NASA Space Technology An artist's interpretation of NASA's fully-deployed Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) in orbit around Earth.(Image credit: NASA)A NASA spacecraft that recently unfurled a state-of-the-art solar sail in Earth orbit is "tumbling or wobbling" through space as it circles our planet, new observations show. NASA representatives told Live Science that the unusual motion was expected but did not explain exactly what is happening.The Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) mission aims to test the efficacy of a new type of solar sail — a device potentially capable of propelling spaceships to faster-than-currently-available speeds using radiation pressure exerted by sunlight. Researchers hope that this type of technology could one day help propel humans to the edge of the solar system and beyond.The ACS3 spacecraft consists of a roughly 860-square-foot (80 square meters) foil...
