Editing Solar sail (section)

===NanoSail-D 2010===
{{main|NanoSail-D2}}
[[File:Nano Sail D.jpg|right|thumb|A photo of the experimental solar sail, NanoSail-D.]]

A team from the NASA [[Marshall Space Flight Center]] (Marshall), along with a team from the NASA [[Ames Research Center]], developed a solar sail mission called NanoSail-D, which was lost in a launch failure aboard a [[Falcon 1]] rocket on 3 August 2008.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/content/?cid=5482|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080811134536/http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/content/?cid=5482|url-status=dead|title=NASASpaceflight.com - SpaceX Falcon I FAILS during first stage flight|archive-date=August 11, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/26jun_nanosaild.htm?list1097511 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090211221207/https://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/26jun_nanosaild.htm?list1097511 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2009-02-11 |title=NASA to Attempt Historic Solar Sail Deployment |publisher=NASA |date=2008-06-26 }}</ref> The second backup version, [[NanoSail-D2]], also sometimes called simply NanoSail-D,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nasa.gov/connect/chat/nanosail_chat2_prt.htm|title=NASA Chat: First Solar Sail Deploys in Low-Earth Orbit|date=2011-01-27|publisher=NASA|quote=Sometimes the satellite is called NanoSail-D and sometimes NanoSail-D2. ... Dean: The project is just NanoSail-D. NanoSail-D2 is the serial #2 version.|access-date=18 May 2012|archive-date=2012-06-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120622134237/http://www.nasa.gov/connect/chat/nanosail_chat2_prt.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> was launched with [[FASTSAT]] on a [[Minotaur IV]] on November 19, 2010, becoming NASA's first solar sail deployed in low earth orbit. The objectives of the mission were to test sail deployment technologies, and to gather data about the use of solar sails as a simple, "passive" means of de-orbiting dead satellites and space debris.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/news/releases/2011/11-055.html|title=NASA - NASA's NanoSail-D Satellite Continues to Slowly De-Orbit Earth's Upper Atmosphere|website=www.nasa.gov|access-date=2012-01-04|archive-date=2012-01-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106051247/http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/news/releases/2011/11-055.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The NanoSail-D structure was made of aluminium and plastic, with the spacecraft massing less than {{convert |10|lb|kg}}. The sail has about {{convert|100|sqft|m2}} of light-catching surface. After some initial problems with deployment, the solar sail was deployed and over the course of its 240-day mission reportedly produced a "wealth of data" concerning the use of solar sails as passive deorbit devices.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/smallsats/11-148.html|title=NASA - NASA's Nanosail-D 'Sails' Home -- Mission Complete|website=www.nasa.gov|access-date=2012-01-04|archive-date=2011-12-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111201161645/http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/smallsats/11-148.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> 

[[NASA]] launched the second NanoSail-D unit stowed inside the FASTSAT satellite on the Minotaur IV on November 19, 2010. The ejection date from the FASTSAT microsatellite was planned for December 6, 2010, but deployment only occurred on January 20, 2011.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/smallsats/nanosaild.html |title=NASA - NanoSail-D Home Page |publisher=Nasa.gov |date=2011-01-21 |access-date=2011-01-24 |archive-date=2008-07-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080707022615/http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/smallsats/nanosaild.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{update after|2012}}