Tech Tuesday: Artemis 1 to orbit, Lightsail 2
Yes, it’s Wednesday. Nobody’s reading this stuff anyway.
Live coverage: NASA’s Artemis 1 moon mission finally underway: Spaceflight Now
So, #Artemis is on its way to Lunar passby, using yet another refurbished, recycled Shuttle part, a used Orbital Maneuvering System engine.
Yet a few more election cycles, and likely no one in Congress will be able to use complete sentences, even if someone does their thinking for them. How are they going to comprehend any value in recycling '70's and '80's spaceflight technology?
Actually, what is the value, when much more advanced, truly reusable technologies are competing with this kludge of Shuttle parts?
LightSail 2 is about to burn up:The Planetary Society
Right out of S/F, this Solar sail mission is nearing its end. They apparently have demonstrated orbital maneuvering by Solar radiation pressure alone, although the article doesn’t say whether they demonstrated positive acceleration to a higher orbit, such as might be used to reach escape velocity, etc.