Japan to launch first solar-powered spacecraft on mission to Venus

Already way back in 1865, Jules Verne explored the idea of space travel by using sunlight as the form of space propulsion in his novel From the Earth to the Moon. Now, about 150 years later, his vision is about to become true when Japanese space agency JAXA launches its first solar-powered spacecraft which will be heading towards Earth’s neighbor –Venus.

Source: http://www.jspec.jaxa.jp/e/activity/ikaros.html

Other nations have previously tested similar solar sails in the orbit. However, Project Ikaros introduces the first spacecraft — also known as solar sail — which runs entirely on solar energy and is the first such spacecraft to fly beyond Earth’s orbit.

Ikaros will be launched together with the Venus climate orbiter Akatsuki (you can read about it here) using a H-IIA launch vehicle. The launch from Tanegashima Space Center was scheduled for today, May 18, but was postponed to Friday or later due to bad weather.

A sail thinner than human hair

Ikaros’ sail is a square-shaped membrane with a quite large diagonal distance of 20 meters (65 ft). But what’s more impressive is the thickness of the membrane — it measures a mere 0.0075 millimeters! That’s thinner than human hair. It’s made of polyimide and has a very thin layer of solar cells.

The sail works by capturing the force from the photons in the sunlight that bounces off on the surface. Although the acceleration will be slow in the beginning, the spacecraft isn’t restricted by the amount of fuel it carries and can eventually reach much higher speeds than would be possible with a chemical rocket.

Timeline of mission Ikaros from Earth to destination (Venus).

Interestingly, Ikaros was also equipped with a DVD disc (see photo below). What exactly is on it? David Hasselhoff’s top ten? Not even close! What they burned on the disc are names of all members of The Planetary Society, the largest public space organization in the world. So if you’re a member, you will sail off to space!

Source: http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00002488/

Next mission: Jupiter

The space agency is already planning the next big mission which should take place later this decade. The destination will be Jupiter and the Trojan asteroids. A spacecraft with a massive sail of 50-meter (164 ft) diameter will use hybrid propulsion system with integrated ion engines that will use electricity generated by the sail.

According to JAXA, their coming solar sail missions will lead to lower costs in the solar cells market. Low-cost solar cells are also the foundation of future solar-powered satellites.

The official web site of Project Ikaros can be found here.

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Source: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7383e724-61c9-11df-aa80-00144feab49a.html