Falcon Heavy Launches on Its Second Flight...Paving the Way for LightSail 2!

SpaceX

Yesterday evening [at 6:35 PM, EDT (3:35 PM, PDT)], SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket successfully launched on its second flight from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida...flawlessly placing the Arabsat 6A spacecraft in a supersynchronous transfer orbit [with an apogee of nearly 56,000 miles (90,000 kilometers) and a perigee of 200 miles (300 kilometers)] above the Earth. To add to Thursday's triumphant mission for SpaceX, the three Falcon 9 boosters that comprised Falcon Heavy managed to land safely—with the two side boosters touching down on a pair of landing sites at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and the core booster successfully reaching the SpaceX drone ship Of Course I Still Love You stationed 615 miles (990 kilometers) off the coast of Florida. The core booster for the first Falcon Heavy mission fell short of this achievement last year.


SpaceX

With flight #2 for Falcon Heavy now in the books, SpaceX can begin preparing for the more ambitious third flight of the powerful launch vehicle. Known as Space Test Program 2 (or STP-2), Falcon Heavy's next mission is dedicated to the U.S. Air Force and will involve placing 25 different satellites in three different orbits. Among those satellites is a student-built spacecraft known as Prox-1—which itself will be the carrier for LightSail 2, a privately-funded solar sail built by The Planetary Society...a nonprofit space advocacy group based in Pasadena, California.


SpaceX

The first LightSail, which was launched in 2015, was a major success...having lifted off in May of that year and deploying its solar sail less than a month later. There were issues (such as communication glitches and computer resets) with this solar sail that will hopefully be rectified on LightSail 2. If all goes as planned, LightSail 2 will successfully deploy from Prox-1 about 447 miles (720 kilometers) above the Earth, smoothly unfurl its sails, and begin demonstrating maneuvering capabilities propelled by sunlight that will pave the way for bigger solar sails that will venture deeper into outer space (like Japan's IKAROS spacecraft that flew past Venus in late 2010).


SpaceX

The Falcon Heavy carrying LightSail 2 is tentatively scheduled for launch next month (on May 31)—but that will obviously change as LightSail 2 itself is still in storage at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in California. When Falcon Heavy does fly again, it will be another triumphant moment for SpaceX's giant reusable rocket...and a significant moment for spacecraft that may someday pave the way for vehicles (both manned and unmanned) to travel to interstellar space within a short amount of time! Happy Friday.


The Planetary Society