NanoSail-D2

Spacecraft n°:

US spacecraft n°:

Launch data: Designation  37361 / 10062L Launch date  20 Nov 2010 - 01:25 UT Ejected from Fastsat on 18 Jan 2011 at 03:00 Launch site  Kodiak, LP-1 Launch vehicle  Minotaur-4 HAPS Mission  Technique Earth orbit on Feb 3.51, 2011: Perigee / Apogee  624 x 648 km Eccentricity  0.002 Inclination  71.97 deg Period  97.45 min

Spacecraft data:

Mission details:

• Fastsat-HSV was developed by NASA-Marshall and companies in Huntsville, Alabama and carries ionospheric and atmospheric experiments, a USAF experiment, and the Nanosail-D2 which will be ejected in about a week to deploy a 3-meter-size solar sail.
• An attempt to eject the Nanosail-D2 experiment from Fastsat was made at 0631 UTC on Dec 6, 2010 but the satellite has not been tracked and it seems possible that the ejection may have failed.
• The Nanosail-D2 experiment launched in November has belatedly ejected itself from FASTSAT. The ejection occurred at 0300 UTC Jan 18, 2011 according to the mission web site at Santa Clara University. The solar sail was deployed on Jan 21 at around 0400 UTC.