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Student-led missions deploy free-flying light sails from CubeSats in low Earth orbit
Student-led missions deploy free-flying light sails from CubeSats in low Earth orbit
Students in Cornell's Space Systems Design Studio (SSDS) have released mission results for two unique light-sail experiments. These sails are slightly larger than a pizza box and harness momentum from photons to accelerate to high velocities. With ChipSats onboard—gram-scale spacecraft that fit in the palm of your hand—the sails can become free-flyers. They origami-fold into CubeSats for launch…
phys.org/news/2026-09-student-missions-deploy-free-flying.html