Solar Sail Lead Tiffany Locket and Lead Systems Engineer Jared Dervan show NASA Administrator Charles Bolden a pristine solar sail sample during his visit to the Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) Scout Project on Dec. 14, 2015, at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. This sample is so reflective it can be used as a mirror when stretched to the suitable tension.
During its mission, NEA Scout will perform an approximate two-year cruise propelled by the solar sail to a target asteroid. A camera on the CubeSat will capture a series of low (50 cm/pixels) and high resolution (10 cm/pixels) images to determine global shape, spin rate, pole position, regional morphology, regolith properties, spectral class, and for local environment characterization.