NASA said it is working to fix the problem with its first solar sail spacecraft. In an update, the agency said it is looking into the performance of the spacecraft’s composite arms that bent during deployment and are now affecting orientation.

The solar spacecraft basically includes a satellite the size of a shoebox that deploys arms and these arms in turn deploy a massive but thin film. In this mission involving the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (AC3S), the booms successfully deployed the sails on August 29, increasing the spacecraft to the size of half a tennis court.

MISSION UPDATE: Advanced Composite Solar Sail System mission operators continue to analyze data from the spacecraft and characterize the performance of its composite arms after successful deployment.

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— NASA Ames (@NASAAmes) October 22, 2024

The spacecraft is being used to test solar sail technology to use sunlight as a propellant. AC3S is currently in a 1000 km Earth orbit being propelled by sunlight, similar to how winds push a ship through water.

But it seems that things are not going well for NASA.

“While the solar sail has fully expanded to its square shape, about half the size of a tennis court, the mission team is evaluating what appears to be a slight bending of one of the four arms,” ​​the agency said in a statement.

SEE ALSO: NASA just deployed its giant solar sail system in space, it’s the size of a tennis court

While NASA revealed that data gathered from the sail’s deployment is proving to be extremely valuable, it added: “The mission team predicts that slight bending of one of the four arms will not inhibit the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System’s ability to- and perform navigation maneuvers later. in the technology demonstration”.

NASA explained that maintaining a spacecraft’s attitude, meaning its orientation with respect to another object, is important for proper communication or charging a spacecraft’s batteries using solar energy.

“Now, mission operators are working to reposition the spacecraft, keeping the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System in low-power mode until its solar panels are more favorably oriented toward direct sunlight. The team is conserving spacecraft power for priority operations — such as two communications with mission control — until its attitude control system is reactivated,” NASA said.

SEE ALSO: NASA to launch spaceships using sunlight as fuel on April 24; Here is all about it

(Image: NASA)