{"498741":{"#nid":"498741","#data":{"type":"news","title":"GT-AE\u0027s Lightsail Scheduled for First Test Flight May 20","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe 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.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECheck out\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/thetwo-way\/2015\/05\/09\/405506717\/planetary-society-set-to-launch-solar-sail-experiment\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003Ethis story\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u0026nbsp;on the project that recently appeared on NPR.org.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGT-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.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe payload on that mission includes a tiny satellite, Lightsail-A, which\u0026nbsp; will be carried by another secondary payload component, the NPS-CUL, aboard the Atlas. Once deployed, Lightsail-A will \u0022blossom\u0022 into a 32-square-meter mylar sail, designed to absorb solar energy that could propel further space flight.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Georgia Tech is responsible for mission planning and mission operations,\u0022 said Spencer. \u0022And we will be watching to see how Lightsail-A performs so we can make adjustments for the next deployment, in September of 2016.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOn 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.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe 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.\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFind out more about\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ae.gatech.edu\/node\/1444\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003Ethe Prox-1.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"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."}],"uid":"30502","created_gmt":"2016-02-10 16:23:05","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:20:42","author":"Sapna Mistry","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2015-05-13T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2015-05-13T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"498751":{"id":"498751","type":"image","title":"David Spencer","body":null,"created":"1455145200","gmt_created":"2016-02-10 23:00:00","changed":"1475895258","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:54:18","alt":"David Spencer","file":{"fid":"204656","name":"spencer-david1.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/spencer-david1.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/spencer-david1.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":43191,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/spencer-david1.jpg?itok=AGivhA4J"}}},"media_ids":["498751"],"groups":[{"id":"1239","name":"School of Aerospace Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"136","name":"Aerospace"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1325","name":"aerospace"},{"id":"98181","name":"David Spencer"},{"id":"126111","name":"GT-AE"},{"id":"171694","name":"Lightsail"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":["kathleen.moore@ae.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}