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原文:
Hitching a ride to low Earth orbit, LightSail A accomplished a challenging test mission, unfurling its 32 square meter mylar solar sail on June 7. This dramatic image from one of the bread loaf sized spacecraft’s fisheye cameras captures the deployed sail glinting in sunlight. Sail out and visible to Earthbound observers before its final orbit, LightSail A reentered the atmosphere last weekend. Its succesful technology demonstration paves the way for the LightSail B spacecraft, scheduled for launch in April 2016. Once considered the stuff of science fiction, sailing through space was suggested 400 years ago by astronomer Johannes Kepler who observed comet tails blown by the solar wind. But modern solar sail designs, like the one tested by LightSail A, rely on the small but continuous pressure from sunlight itself for thrust.
中文翻譯:
🌌🚀 乘搭一趟前往低地球軌道的旅程，LightSail A 完成了一項具有挑戰性的測試任務，於6月7日成功展開其32平方米的聚酯纖維太陽帆。這張來自太空船其中一個如麵包盒般大小的魚眼相機拍攝的壯觀圖片，捕捉到展開的太陽帆在陽光下閃閃發光。在最終軌道前，太陽帆已經在地球觀察者的眼前展開，LightSail A 在上個週末重返大氣層。這項成功的技術演示為預定於2016年4月發射的LightSail B 太空船鋪平了道路。
早在400年前，天文學家約翰內斯·開普勒就曾提出，彷彿科幻小說一般的太空航行概念，觀察到彗星尾巴受到太陽風的影響。然而，現代的太陽帆設計，如LightSail A所測試的那款，則依賴太陽光本身的微弱但持續的壓力來提供推進力。
#LightSailA #SolarSail #SpaceExploration #Innovation #NASA #Kepler #TechDemo #LowEarthOrbit #LightSailB #航天探索 #太陽帆 #技術展示
來源:NASA每日圖片
