Japan Deploys the First Solar Sail In HistoryAugust 10, 2004
On August 9, 2004 Japan became the first nation to successfully deploy a solar sail in sub-orbital space. An S-310 sounding rocket was launched from the Uchinoura Space Center in Kagoshima, Japan at 3:15pm Japan Standard Time (8:15am GMT), carrying the solar sail deployment test.
According to the Planetary Society the S-310 carried two types of 10 meter dishes: a clover-leaf and fan-shaped type. The clover-shaped sail, composed of four separate segments, was deployed at 100 seconds, or an altitude of 122 kilometers after launch. In its place, the second sail consisting of six segments (fan shape) was deployed shortly after at 169 kilometers.
JAXA states that "the sail was deployed only via centrifugal force without having any rib or frame. It was stowed around a canister whose diameter is approximately only 100 mm. It means the diameter was expanded 100 times." In other words, the spin of the canister provided the centrifugal force to unfurl the sails. Without a frame a solar sail can be much lighter and more efficient in space. And according to JAXA this is the first demonstration of 7.5 micron polyamide film for use in solar sails.
In an email interview Jun Kawaguchi and Kenji Minesugi from the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science at JAXA answered questions asked by Interstellar Missions.com.
Interstellar Missions: Has Jaxa received any preliminary data on the performance of the solar sail? If so, what does that data indicate?
ISAS/JAXA: The experiment, this time, occurred in sub-orbital flight and sail acceleration detection was not what it was aimed at. The primary purpose is to verify and confirm the deployment behavior and expanded membrane characteristics.
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