NanoSail-D

past Mission

Type

SmallSat

Launch

Nov. 19, 2010

Location

Low Earth Orbit

Objective

Deploy NASA's first-ever solar sail

NASA's NanoSail-D was a nanosatellite that deployed NASA's first-ever solar sail in low Earth orbit.

Latest News

Explore All NanoSail-D Stories
News Release
3 min read

Space Meets Sound: NASA Lands in 2024 Spotify Wrapped

Image Article
1 min read

NASA Astronauts O’Hara and Moghbeli Explore Earth Data

A fisheye color image of the Martian surface shows a desert-like landscape in pale orange, with a pair of rover wheel tracks starting at the bottom of the frame and extending far into the distance, converging and disappearing into the hazy horizon near the top of the image. Parts of the Perseverance rover – and the shadows they cast on the ground – are visible at the bottom corners of the frame, including the wheel that made the right-hand set of tracks.
2 min read

Looking Out for ‘Lookout Hill’

Article18 hours ago
5 min read

December 2024 Transformer of the Month: Jill Marlowe

Article18 hours ago
6 min read

Sarah Peacock Surveys Stellar Radiation to Hunt for Habitable Worlds

Article18 hours ago
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The image is divided horizontally by an undulating line between a cloudscape forming a nebula along the bottom portion and a comparatively clear upper portion. Speckled across both portions is a starfield, showing innumerable stars of many sizes. The smallest of these are small, distant, and faint points of light. The largest of these appear larger, closer, brighter, and more fully resolved with 8-point diffraction spikes. The upper portion of the image is blueish, and has wispy translucent cloud-like streaks rising from the nebula below. The orangish cloudy formation in the bottom half varies in density and ranges from translucent to opaque. The stars vary in color, the majority of which have a blue or orange hue. The cloud-like structure of the nebula contains ridges, peaks, and valleys – an appearance very similar to a mountain range. Three long diffraction spikes from the top right edge of the image suggest the presence of a large star just out of view.

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