Well, sort of...
We here at Mobile Ed recently had the opportunity to help fund an amazing Kickstarter project called LightSail! The project was created by science's very own Bill Nye, the famous American scientist, educator, mechanical engineer, media personality and now the CEO of the Planetary Society. As such, he plays an important roll supervising the project's development, managing fundraising initiatives, and engaging with the public. He was able to raise an astounding $1,241,615 thanks to 23,331 backers who pledged at least $1 towards the project.
So what exactly is LightSail? Cue Bill:
The project is a space exploration initiative that aims to demonstrate how solar sailing can be a method of propulsion for small spacecraft. The first mission will test the efficiency of how solar sailing works, and we are eager to see what’s coming next in this exciting new space technology!
But… What exactly is solar sailing?
Solar sails are made up of little mirrors that together, in the shape of a sail, use the movement of light particles to move forward, reaching about 10% of the speed of light! That means it can take 26 days to reach Mars – as opposed to a regular rocketship that takes long nine months!
Those who pledged a dollar or more, including Mobile Ed Productions, will have their name sent to space on board the LightSail propelled CubeSat.
It’s very exciting to have our name being launched into space! Although we wish our whole team could travel to space as well, we are pretty happy to be symbolically traveling towards the unknown.
We will be keeping you updates with the voyages of LightSail as its voyage progresses.
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