NASA is delaying the Near-Earth Asteroid Scout solar sail deployment test and media event previously scheduled for Thursday, April 26. During the final assembly phase, the NEA Scout team discovered an issue with the deployment boom. The team is working to prepare a replacement boom. As soon as the issue is resolved, the team will provide a revised test date.
NEA Scout and 12 other small satellites will launch as secondary payloads on Exploration Mission-1 of NASA’s Space Launch System and Orion Spacecraft. NEA Scout is a CubeSat developed jointly between Marshall and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. CubeSats are small spacecraft built for space-based science, exploration and engineering. NEA Scout relies on an innovative solar sail for propulsion and will be America’s first interplanetary solar sail mission. When deployed, the sail — square in shape with each side about the length of a school bus — harnesses solar energy to use as propulsion to move through space.
Shannon Ridinger
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034
shannon.j.ridinger@nasa.gov