LunarSail Spacecraft

Launch a CubeSat amateur satellite containing a solar sail and orbit the Moon.

LunarSail is a project to design, build and launch a CubeSat amateur satellite containing a solar sail and orbit the Moon. LunarSail is an effort to demonstrate the ability of a spacecraft under solar sail propulsion to navigate itself into a lunar trajectory and insert itself into Lunar orbit.

A primary objective of the LunarSail mission is to serve as a testbed for cubesat operations beyond low Earth orbit and applications requiring cislunar or interplanetary rendezvous. It is a proposed cubesat mission intended to demonstrate practical application of solar sail technology for propulsion, trajectory/attitude control and rendezvous with another body in space. With LunarSail, we will take advantage of the cubesat platform to conduct a first of its kind mission to use a solar sail to send a spacecraft to the Moon and then utilize the sail’s unique characteristics to navigate into lunar orbit.

Kickstarter funding. No updates for the past year and backers have not gotten rewards. Seems to have ended with bad reputation.