The scheduled May 20 launch of the Atlas V AFSPC-5 Rocket at Cape Canaveral in Florida is causing ripples of excitement to spread across the School of Aerospace Engineering.

Check out this story on the project that recently appeared on NPR.org.

GT-AE professor Dr. David Spencer is serving as the mission manager for the project, which was developed by the Planetary Society as a first step toward changing the way space travel will be propelled.

The payload on that mission includes a tiny satellite, Lightsail-A, which  will be carried by another secondary payload component, the NPS-CUL, aboard the Atlas. Once deployed, Lightsail-A will "blossom" into a 32-square-meter mylar sail, designed to absorb solar energy that could propel further space flight.

"Georgia Tech is responsible for mission planning and mission operations," said Spencer. "And we will be watching to see how Lightsail-A performs so we can make adjustments for the next deployment, in September of 2016."

On the May 20 flight, the Lightsail technology will not achieve a sufficiently high orbit to fully test its ability to capture energy from the solar wind. It will demonstrate the feasibility of the tissue-thin sail, however.

The entire concept will receive more rigorous testing in September of 2016, when Lightsail-B is launched via the GT-AE-built Prox-1 spacecraft, itself a payload of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket.

Find out more about the Prox-1.