Lightsail-2

www.planetary.org

LightSail 2 Sail Deployment Scheduled for Tuesday

The target ground station pass for deployment starts 23 July 2019 at roughly 11:22 PDT (18:22 UTC).
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LightSail 2 Sail Deployment Scheduled for Tuesday

Mission officials today cleared the spacecraft for a possible sail deployment attempt on Tuesday, 23 July 2019, during a ground station pass that starts at roughly 11:22 PDT (18:22 UTC). A backup pass is available the following orbit starting at 13:07 PDT (20:07 UTC). These times may change slightly as new orbit predictions become available.
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The Planetary Society's LightSail 2 deploy the spacecraft’s solar sail, Tuesday, 23 July 2019, 11:22 PDT (18:22 UTC).

Live Coverage:


www.planetary.org

Live Coverage: LightSail 2 Sail Deployment

Visit planetary.org/live for video and audio from mission control, located at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in California.
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I cannot wait until Tuesday, I hope things go well for LightSail 2.
 
I wonder if you can get a two-fer...

See here:
https://advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adom.202502880

“To use solar energy effectively, environmentally benign solid-state hydrogen storage materials are sought that are capable of releasing hydrogen under visible light irradiation. The gravimetric hydrogen capacity of layered hydrogen silicane (L-HSi) is quite high (3.44 wt.%). The optical bandgap of L-HSi is 2.13 eV, which corresponds to a wavelength of ≈600 nm (green-to-yellow region). Here, visible-light-driven hydrogen release from L-HSi is reported. The action spectrum of L-HSi for hydrogen release is consistent with its absorption spectrum, indicating that hydrogen release is driven by bandgap excitation rather than the photothermal effect. The quantum efficiency of hydrogen release is 7.3% at 550 nm. Hydrogen release from L-HSi can occur under both inert gas conditions and in the dispersed liquid form. The light intensity dependence indicates that hydrogen release is driven by low-intensity light such as sunlight or a light-emitting diode. L-HSi is expected to be used as a safe, solid-state, and lightweight hydrogen carrier with low energy consumption for hydrogen release.”

Similar?
https://phys.org/news/2026-01-hydrogen-energy-flattening-granular-catalysts.html

The idea is that the surface of the sail itself can be a rocket–staging hydrogen off with the bare remaining sail used as normal–just photon pressure.

An additional “stage” can be the reflective sail material spalling off fission fragment style—and whatever remains eaten for an auto-phage rocket:
www.spacedaily.com

Autophage rocket concept wins EU prize for debris free launch technology

Paris, France (SPX) Jan 29, 2026 - Alpha Impulsion, a space startup based in Toulouse and Naples, has received a 950000 euro award from the European Union for a major innovation in space propulsion aimed at more economical, efficient
www.spacedaily.com

Here the sail's mass is completely utilized, with a small bus all that remains...coasting as any other probe.
 

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