(Adds request for comment sent to Chinese embassy)
By Christopher Bing
Dec 13 (Reuters) - A hacking group named APT5, which is suspected to be Chinese, has exploited a vulnerability in networking gear from U.S. technology company Citrix Systems Inc to spy on targets.
A U.S. National Security Agency advisory on Tuesday reported the activity and requested that victims who discover additional evidence of an attack reach out to the NSA's Cybersecurity Collaboration Center, a unique division of the spy agency opened in 2021 with the mission of public-private sector collaboration.
Citrix in a blog post said it was "aware of a small number of targeted attacks in the wild using this vulnerability." The company has already released a fix for the vulnerability that customers can download.
The NSA alert did not say that APT5 is Chinese, but private sector security researchers have reported this suspected link previously.
APT5 is known for breaking into telecommunications providers as well as government organizations, satellite and other technology companies. Historically, the hackers have conducted operations across Southeast Asia and Europe in addition to the United States.
China's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Reporting by Christopher Bing; Editing by Leslie Adler and Cynthia Osterman)
With annual revenue in 2015 of $3.28 billion, Citrix solutions are in use at more than 400,000 organizations and by over 100 million users globally.
In this interview, Parag Arora, Citrix’s Area Vice President and Country Head, India Subcontinent talks to Pankaj Maru of ETCIO.com and discusses about company’s enterprise business in India, its strategy, growth plan and key markets, technology aspects of solutions and the latest industry rumor around sale of Citrix and much more.
Edited excerpts...Q1. Can you brief about Citrix’s enterprise business in India particularly on the enterprise business and what sort of strategy are you driving for the Indian market?
We have a global view and share the same for the India market. There are 3-4 four key trends we are seeing cutting across enterprise market include – cloud, mobility, Internet of Thing (IoT) and analytics.
Cloud is really moving really very fast in the market. In last 18-24 months or so, we are seen the amount of customers’ interest in cloud is very high. I think in India, we believe that almost every big enterprise has something to do with cloud now. It’s a big eye opener for us.
Mobility is not just about devices but it’s also about how people work across locations and how they are connected with organizations. Mobility is much broader concept and it is clearly on the agenda of CXOs now. And that’s again is a key market theme that we have seen.
Internet of Things (IoT) is a growing bigger with the amount of things that are added on the internet every quarter is humongous. So we really believe this is the space (IoT) will have a big impact on the industry in the time to come. And the fourth trend is Analytics.
These are the four key trends that we are seeing today and from Citrix perspective we are trying to address these market trends. Our mission is really to connect the people, things and companies in a very secure way. And eventually we want to develop platform or solution to really help customers securely deliver their data and applications on any device anywhere on any cloud.We sincerely believe that what matters to enterprises and business is the data and applications, irrespective of whether its cloud or on-premise. So our real focus on the enterprise technology is data and applications. Our larger mission is helping enterprises and organizations deal with data and applications in heterogeneous environments and streamline their applications and reduce the complexities.
Q2. Which are the key verticals for Citrix’s enterprise business?
We have 4 or 5 key verticals that include government, banking, IT services, telecom and mid-market.
Government is very important to us now with the major initiatives like Digital India and others, there’s a shift in the focus to deliver services to customers. With our solutions around mobility and virtualization we really believe that we have a big role to play in the government sector and enablement of those services to citizens. So government is certainly one of the important markets that we are focusing on and I would say government is a net new market for us.
Banking is the second market where we have been clearly dominant and very strong for past many years. We help banks in many ways and security is one of them. Since Citrix is secure by design (SbD), when banks deploy our solutions than security becomes kind of underline feature in them and we have other solutions around internet and mobile banking. Banks have been a big market to us and we believe that in next few years after the private banks embrace technology solutions, all the government banks will be our next big focus. We would able to leverage our learnings from private banks in terms of solutions deployment and use it in PSU banks and insurance companies.
The third market is IT Services, where we have two different roles to play – one is shift around the automation and other is productivity in organizations, where they are trying to make their every employee more productive and implementing automation solution that is not just linked with the people. So we are working with CIOs of firms and helping their employees to be more productive by facilitating them to be mobile, work remotely and collaborate as teams.
And the second big area around of IT Services is that most of Citrix solutions whether it be virtualization, mobility or file sharing – all are cloud ready. Most of the top IT companies want Citrix to build a cloud based platform that would enable them to deliver services to customers around the world. So we are engaging with top 5 or 6 IT companies in India to create a cloud based Citrix platform, which would be a net new market for them. So from IT Services perspective we have two approaches – CIO and Go-To-Market (GTM).
Telecom is fourth vertical, which is very interesting again because we have a big role to play in networking space. And we have our networking portfolio Netscaler, which has range of solutions including ADC (Application Delivery Controller) for the telcos. And now we have another telco in India which is investing extensively in networking and is big customer to us. Networking is clearly very important aspect for telcos. Secondly, they want to make sure that their applications or apps stores run in more cost efficiently. So they are leveraging the old approach of application or app virtualization and VDI (Virtual desktop infrastructure).
And lastly, the mid-market is our big market for us and that’s where we are working with our partner networks. In India we have about 5000 customers but we really believe it can be atleast 10 times more given the number of companies here. So that’s where lot of our investment this year has been happening in the partner engagements and enablement programs with a full time dedicated team in place trying to tap mid-market customers across verticals. Interestingly about 80-85% of top 100 (BSE & NSE) companies in India are Citrix customers.
We really believe that mid-market segment will have a huge relevance for us so, we are trying to put a strategy that will bring right coverage in that market for us.
Q3. From enterprise and CIO perspective what’s Citrix proposition to boost its solutions adoptability among enterprises?
I think the big message is democracy of users as most customers today are allowing their employees or users to bring their own devices and that’s a harsh reality. Because CIOs are known to live in a world where they define all the parameters of usage but that world has now completely shifted where you have no choice but let the people bring devices of their choice.
The second reality is security. Today, the shift is that CIOs are looking at security more proactively and discussion is building architecture that is secure by design (SbD). And SbD is now a big conversation because the day new solution is designed it has to be made sure that it takes care of all secure aspects upfront and enhancing the overall security. At a broad level these are the two areas, but our portfolio is all around building platform for our customers.
For example, our offering XenDesktop, XenMobile, XenApps, NetScaler and now SD-WAN, which is our latest cost effective solution means over MPLS from customers’ point, which allows aggregation of different bandwidth, applications and networks. And that’s really interesting aspect that we are trying to address today.
I think the world of VDI solution has gone and today it’s just one application in the app store. The whole concept of has moved from VDI to unified app store and VDI is just one application there. And it goes back to the concept of letting the users with their choice but at the same time make sure it’s secure by design.
Q4. What are company’s growth plans for this year in India?
From e-commerce perspective, I think our real play is networking. With our Netscaler platform we are working with hosted providers in India because lot of e-commerce is still hosted on the cloud and right most of our play is around ADC, web-application firewall, performance and security services. And most of the global e-commerce players are Citrix customers.
Q5. What are your comments on the media reports stating that Citrix is seeking for buyers?
Basically we don’t comment on such rumor as a corporate policy and they have been there for long time. I think these are rumors and we definitely not comment on it. I have been here for five years now and have been hearing these rumors off and on.
China is now looking to launch its first planetary defense test mission a year earlier than planned and on a larger rocket.
Like NASA did on its exact Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, China wants to test changing the orbit of a potentially hazardous asteroid with an impactor spacecraft and also accurately measure how much its orbit is altered.
DART partnered with a successor mission from the European Space Agency called Hera, which is due to launch in 2024 and will study the impact site in detail. China, however wants to attempt both the impact and close observation in one shot. The country first announced plans for the mission in April and later revealed that the test would target a space rock known as 2020 PN1, a "potentially hazardous" asteroid roughly 130 feet (40 meters) wide. The mission was to launch on a Long March 3B rocket around 2026.
Related: 8 ways to stop an asteroid: Nuclear weapons, paint and Bruce Willis
Wu Weiren, chief designer of China's lunar exploration program, told CCTV on Nov. 24 that the new plan will see the mission launch in 2025 atop the larger, more powerful Long March 5 rocket.
"We will launch two probes," he said. "The first one is for surveying. Having studied it [the asteroid] thoroughly after a period of survey, the other one, an impactor, will follow our orders to collide with the asteroid and hopefully divert it three or five centimeters [one or two inches] away from its course."
The spacecraft will launch together, but after separating from the rocket they will enter different trajectories to 2020 PN1. The surveyor will rendezvous with the asteroid first, allowing it to make observations both before and after the planned impact.
While small, the planned alteration in the orbit would be enough to significantly alter the asteroid's path over time.
"A deviation of three or five centimeters would change the trajectory by over 1,000 kilometers [620 miles] after around three months," Wu said. "The longer the time, the bigger the change of the trajectory."
Wu underlined the importance of being able to eliminate potential threats of collisions with Earth.
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An irreparable software glitch has put an end to Geotail, a JAXA-NASA joint mission. The satellite observed Earth’s magnetosphere for more than 30 years within an extremely elliptical orbit, but the mission has officially been terminated, according to JAXA’s Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS).
Geotail launched on July 24, 1992, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida as a joint mission of NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The satellite had been sailing through the magnetic envelope that surrounds Earth—the protective layer known as the magnetosphere.
But on June 28, Geotail’s last remaining data recorder malfunctioned, leaving the probe with no means to collect its science data. Geotail was originally equipped with two data recorders, but one data recorder stopped working in 2012 after collecting 20 years worth of data. The remaining recorder outlasted its deceased companion by 10 years before malfunctioning itself.
JAXA’s mission engineers discovered the data recorder anomaly and the two space agencies had been trying to decide the fate of Geotail ever since. On November 28, it was decided that the mission could not continue; the probe’s operations are now officially over, including its radio wave transmissions. The full results of the mission will be summarized by the end of March 2023, according to ISAS.
Geotail had far outlived its original mission timeline of four years, observing the elongated tail of Earth’s magnetosphere and sending back valuable data on auroras and the type of material being emitted by the Sun, among other scientific observations pertaining to Earth’s atmosphere.
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Earth’s magnetosphere is a giant magnetic field that surrounds our planet, protecting us from solar wind, radiation from the Sun, and cosmic rays from deep space. The magnetosphere is shaped by Earth’s north and south poles, as well as a steady stream of particles emitted by the Sun.
The satellite was placed into an extremely elliptical orbit around Earth, observing the far region of the magnetotail at first. Over time, however, the spacecraft’s lower orbit allowed it to get closer and study the substorms that took place near Earth, in addition to passing just inside the magnetosphere’s boundary plane on the dayside, according to NASA.
The time has come for us to bid farewell to Geotail, but the small satellite certainly fed scientists with enough information to warrant its legacy for years to come.
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To the moon, again!
NASA launched the Artemis I mission from Florida at 1:47 a.m. ET on Wednesday morning, with the agency's most powerful rocket ever kicking off a nearly month-long journey with a ground-shaking liftoff.
While no astronauts are onboard, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket carried the Orion capsule to space in a demonstration for NASA's lunar program. Artemis I will not land on the moon, but the spacecraft will orbit nearby before returning to Earth in 26 days.
The Artemis I mission launches on NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on Nov. 16, 2022 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Bill Ingalls / NASA
In the final hours of the countdown, a hydrogen leak in a valve threatened to delay the launch. With SLS nearly fully fueled, a small group known as the "red team" was sent out to the launchpad and into the "blast danger area" to try to fix the problem. The team was able to tighten hardware on the leaky valve and returned to safety, with NASA's launch then able to proceed.
So far the mission is going as planned, with Orion reaching orbit around the Earth at about 2 a.m. ET and firing its engines about two hours after launch to begin the multi-day trip to the moon.
A look back at Earth from onboard the Orion spacecraft as it heads to the moon.
NASA TV
The next major milestone is set for Nov. 21, when Orion will make its closest approach to the moon of 60 miles above the surface. To return, Orion will use the moon's gravity to assist it in setting a trajectory back into Earth's orbit. Artemis I will travel about 1.3 million miles over the course of the mission.
The mission represents a crucial inflection point in NASA's moon plans, with the program delayed for years and running billions of dollars over budget. The Artemis program represents a series of missions with escalating goals. The third – tentatively scheduled for 2025 – is expected to return astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time since the Apollo era.
NASA first tried to launch Artemis I in August but called off multiple attempts after discovering technical problems with the rocket's engines.
In September the agency rolled the rocket back into the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for protection from Hurricane Ian, returning the vehicle to the LC-39B launchpad on Nov. 3.
NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion capsule stand in preparation to launch at LC-39B of Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on Nov. 13, 2022.
Last week, NASA left SLS and Orion out on the launchpad to weather the winds of Hurricane Nicole.
NASA said it checked the rocket and spacecraft after the storm passed and found no major damage to the vehicle. It said a 10-foot section of insulation near the Orion capsule had pulled away due to the high winds – but NASA decided to proceed with Wednesday's launch attempt after an analysis showed it was not expected to cause any significant damage if the insulation falls off during the launch.
A host of aerospace contractors support the hardware, infrastructure and software for SLS and Orion – with Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Airbus and Jacobs leading the effort.
NASA's program has enjoyed strong bipartisan political support, but the agency's Inspector General recently warned that Artemis is not a "sustainable" way to establish a presence on the moon. The internal watchdog found that more than $40 billion has already been spent on Artemis, and projected NASA would spend $93 billion on the effort by the time the first crewed landing happens.
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After considerable delays, humans are one step closer to returning to the Moon. On Wednesday morning just before 2 AM, NASA finally launched Artemis 1, an unmanned mission that will send a rocket around the Moon, from its Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Though unmanned, the spacecraft carried a module that is designed to carry humans. The rocket on which the module traveled is known as Orion, and is NASA's flagship rocket for future Moon missions.
Originally slated for lift-off on August 29, four different delays pushed the mission back to November 16th. The repeated delays were a result of extreme caution on behalf of NASA, given the mission's expense: NASA estimates it will spend $95 billion on the Artemis project up till 2025, with each launch, including this one, costing about $4.1 billion. The delays were partially due to the pure hydrogen fuel tanks, which proved to be finicky.
Thankfully, the Artemis 1 launch went off without a hitch. Now, the spacecraft will undergo a full test of its capabilities and instruments over the course of the next three weeks before it returns to Earth.
"What an incredible sight to see NASA's Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft launch together for the first time. This uncrewed flight test will push Orion to the limits in the rigors of deep space, helping us prepare for human exploration on the Moon and, ultimately, Mars," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement.
This mission is intended to inaugurate a new era of exploration of the Moon, which has not been visited by humans since 1972. If and when a manned mission returns, it will mark a new era for humanity. For these reasons, the Artemis missions are considered a big deal, hence why so many people were closely following its postponements.
Though there aren't any astronauts onboard, there's still a lot we'll be able to study about Earth's closest neighbor. So what will we hope to learn?
What are Artemis and Orion and where are they going?
Artemis is the name of the mission, after the Greek lunar deity, who was the "goddess of the hunt." Orion is the name of the semi-reusable spacecraft, named for the constellation which depicts another mythical Greek hunter.
According to NASA, Orion will loop once around the Earth, flinging it approximately 40,000 miles beyond the Moon, where it will zip around it on November 21. There, it will drop off a few toaster-sized satellites called CubeSats (more on them in a bit) and return to Earth over the course of 25.5 days, splashing back down to earth on December 11.
While this mission may seem similar to Apollo, the execution is quite different, and it marks a lot of firsts — including the first use of the blandly named Space Launch System, which is the most powerful rocket in the world and NASA's largest since the Saturn V rockets of the Apollo mission era. The Apollo missions were also much shorter, typically around 8 days in space.
What took so long to get the rocket off the ground?
Two technical issues — a problem with one of the engines on August 29th and a hydrogen leak on September 3 — made launching Artemis 1 too dangerous. But weather was a major issue, too. First, Tropical Storm Ian scrapped a September 24 launch while Hurricane Nicole delayed the launch on November 14.
But these delays are only the most recent. In truth, the Orion program has been suffering setbacks, including from tornadoes and design flaws, since 2010, when President Obama signed the NASA Authorization Act, kickstarting the program.
As history has shown, little errors can have big consequences, so it's probably a good thing NASA waited until the right moment. Rushed engineering of unmanned Vanguard rockets designed during the beginning of the Space Race led to dismal consequences: from 1957 to 1959, only 3 of 11 Vanguard rockets successfully reached orbit.
Now, the Artemis missions will lay the foundation for other off-world exploration, including potential Mars expeditions.
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"It's taken a lot to get here, but Orion is now on its way to the Moon," Jim Free, NASA deputy associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, said in the same statement. "This successful launch means NASA and our partners are on a path to explore farther in space than ever before for the benefit of humanity."
What's onboard the Orion?
Orion carries with it 10 CubeSats, each with its own special mission, that will be left behind as the main spacecraft heads back to Earth. CubeSats are lightweight, blocky satellites that have revolutionized interstellar communication because you can stuff a lot of them on a single rocket. In fact, Orion has already dropped a few that have since begun tweeting.
Some of them are more exciting than others. OMOTENASHI, for example, will crash itself into the Moon's surface using a laser-ignited rocket. Japan's JAXA, their equivalent to NASA, designed the smallest lunar lander in history to deploy an airbag, allowing OMOTENASHI (a Japanese word which means "hospitality") to land safely. It will then measure radiation levels which are "essential to support radiation risk assessments for astronauts and establish a benchmark for space radiation models for human space activities on the Moon," a JAXA report explains.
BioSentinel is another peculiar experiment, containing a bioengineered strain of budding yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) typically used in baking and brewing beer. The fungus are embedded into microfluidic cards that can measure their growth and "help calibrate the biological effects of radiation in deep space," NASA says. Space agencies will need to design ways of dealing with the vast level of radiation in space, which will be a huge issue for any humans that visit the moon. Speaking of which…
What's next for Moon missions?
Artemis 1 is just the beginning. Artemis 2, due to launch in May 2024, will carry humans — but they will not land, merely orbit the moon, much like they Apollo 8 and Apollo 10 missions. If all goes well with Artemis 1 and 2, the Artemis 3 mission could launch as early as 2025. It is intended to put people on the moon for the first time since 1972, the Apollo 17 mission.
The Artemis 3 mission won't merely be the first time in a while since someone has put bootprints on Moon dust. NASA states they intend to "land the first woman and the first person of color on the surface of the Moon," with this mission.
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SAN MATEO, Calif., Nov. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- With its LEAF OS and EX500 thin client, NComputing has secured Citrix Ready® Premium Endpoint validation from Citrix, a business unit of Cloud Software Group. Bringing both hardware and software together for the first time for Citrix products and services, NComputing aims to simplify migrations to virtual desktops, apps and cloud workspaces.
"We've excelled at bringing high-performing, low-cost endpoints to Citrix over the years. Now, with the capabilities in our LEAF OS offering, we can also breathe new life into 3rd-party devices," said Young Song, Founder and CEO, NComputing. "Whether you're trying to extend the life of existing clients, need to expand your hardware base, or simply want to homogenize the deployment, LEAF OS realizes the goal of easy, centralized management and control."
Non-standard hardware? No problem.
NComputing LEAF OS is a fully locked-down Linux-based operating system designed specifically for secure, high-performance access to virtual desktops, apps and cloud workspaces. This software endpoint solution transforms any x86-64 PC, laptop or thin client into a secure and centrally managed Citrix endpoint, delivering access to Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops™ and Citrix DaaS™.
LEAF OS addresses security, corporate data leakage, patch management and central manageability concerns for companies with work from home, BYOD and cost-saving initiatives.
Advanced multimedia capabilities, including Microsoft Teams optimization, HDX Adaptive Transport, Browser Content Redirection (BCR) and extensive USB peripheral device support, are cornerstones of the LEAF OS foundation.
Standard hardware? Meet the new standard.
EX500, based on x86-64 CPU architecture, has all the bases covered. Features include 4K Ultra HD video, dual monitor ports, gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth, broad peripheral support and Wi-Fi.
Powered by LEAF OS, the EX500 makes deployments easy. Plug them in and manage them all via NComputing's PMC Endpoint Manager software along with any other device running LEAF OS.
Administrators set up device profiles with all settings and configurations, then push them out to an individual or group of devices. Schedule device firmware updates, access the summary dashboard or view the detailed event logging. Manage devices located in local and wide area networks (WAN). Work from home and hybrid workforce deployments are fully supported. Users are always up to date with the latest Citrix technology.
"Chain of Trust" Provides Enterprise-level Security
LEAF OS endpoint solution provides secure boot support on x86-64 platforms, protecting the system against malicious code by ensuring only authenticated software runs on the device. This verification process validates each step of the endpoint boot process, establishes a chain of trust and prevents viruses and other malicious software from running on the system.
"The combination of Citrix with the EX500 thin client and LEAF OS software endpoint enables people to securely work from anywhere, using almost any device," said Chris Fleck, Vice President, Ecosystems and Verticals, Citrix, a Business Unit of Cloud Software Group. "We are pleased to see NComputing achieve validation of EX500 and LEAF OS as Citrix Ready Premium Endpoint, further expanding the list of NComputing solutions that have been Citrix Ready verified."
Learn more about NComputing products in the Citrix Ready Marketplace.
About NComputing
Founded in 2003, NComputing is a leading provider of Enterprise Ready thin clients for desktop virtualization and cloud computing solutions, with more than 70,000 customers and 20 million daily users in 140 countries. NComputing has been working closely with Citrix since 2012 and was the first to market Citrix HDX ready System-on-chip (SoC) based thin clients. Removing the barriers through a unique formula of simplicity, performance, and value, NComputing's integrated solutions serve global customers in key verticals, such as education, healthcare, and government.
View original content to obtain multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ncomputing-adds-ex500-thin-client-and-leaf-os-as-citrix-ready-301689444.html
SOURCE NComputing Global, Inc.
The LightSail 2 spacecraft will ride on sunshine no more.
The Planetary Society's crowdfunded solar sailing craft re-entered Earth's atmosphere on Thursday morning (Nov.17) after nearly 3.5 years in orbit — more than three times longer than its designed mission life.
The LightSail 2 team has received no communications from the spacecraft since that date, leading them to conclude that the shoebox-sized craft had finally given up the ghost after completing 18,000 orbits and traveling about 5 million miles (8 million kilometers) around our planet.
"LightSail 2 is gone after more than three glorious years in the sky, blazing a trail of lift with light, and proving that we could defy gravity by tacking a sail in space," science communicator Bill Nye, CEO of The Planetary Society, said in a statement (opens in new tab). "The mission was funded by tens of thousands of Planetary Society members, who want to advance space technology."
Related: LightSail 2 captures stunning photos of Earth from space
LightSail 2 was the first small spacecraft to demonstrate controlled solar sailing, harnessing photons from the sun to adjust its orbit. (LightSail 2 wasn't the first craft of any type to solar sail in space, however; Japan's Ikaros probe did so in 2010.)
While light lacks mass, its individual particles — photons — carry momentum that can be transferred to a reflective surface to deliver it a tiny amount of push.
LightSail 2 has shown that solar sailing is an effective and viable propulsion method for small spacecraft, including tiny satellites known as cubesats, team members said.
LightSail Program Manager and Chief Scientist Bruce Betts wrote in a Planetary Society statement (opens in new tab) that deorbiting was always going to be LightSail 2's fate, though the fiery end to the mission took longer to manifest than predicted.
LightSail 2 launched in June 2019 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, tasked with a one-year mission to demonstrated controlled solar sailing in orbit. It began its operations at an altitude of about 450 miles (720 kilometers) above Earth — slightly higher than the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS).
At this altitude, Earth's atmosphere is still dense enough to exert a slight drag on a spacecraft, and it is this effect that eventually sealed the fate of LightSail 2.
Because of the large surface area of the craft's solar sail, which measured 244 square feet (32 square meters) — about the size of a boxing ring — it experienced a larger drag effect than other spacecraft of its mass.
"Imagine throwing a rock compared to throwing a piece of paper. Atmospheric drag will stop the paper much faster than the rock. In our case, LightSail 2 is the paper," Betts wrote. "A spacecraft like the ISS is huge but also massive, more like the rock. But even the ISS has to be boosted higher every few weeks using rockets to compensate for drag."
During its third year of operations, in which it demonstrated its most efficient solar sailing, LightSail 2 experienced increased atmospheric drag due to a boost in solar activity. This activity from the sun heated the atmosphere, making the area LightSail 2 passed through denser.
"That marked the beginning of the end," Betts wrote. "As solar activity increased even more, solar sailing was unable to compete with the increased drag due to atmospheric density increase."
Over the last several weeks, LightSail 2 had been dropping deeper and deeper into Earth's atmosphere, experiencing more and more drag, which, in turn, dramatically increased the rate of its drop.
"The spacecraft was caught in an ever-increasing snowball effect: as the spacecraft got lower, the density increased, which caused the spacecraft to get lower even more quickly," Betts wrote.
While LightSail 2's mission may be over, there is still scientific work to be conducted. The team behind the mission is continuing to analyze data collected by the craft, which remained operational until its final moments.
This data will also be shared with future space missions that also make use of solar sails, such as NASA's NEA Scout, which launched on the agency's Artemis 1 mission on Nov. 16 and will hitch a ride on sunlight to travel to the moon and then on to a near-Earth asteroid.
"Despite the sadness at seeing it go, all those who worked on this project and the 50,000 individual donors who completely funded the LightSail program should reflect on this as a moment of pride," Betts wrote.
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NASA showed views of Earth and space from the Orion spacecraft during the Artemis 1 mission--the test flight of the Artemis program to explore… read more
NASA showed views of Earth and space from the Orion spacecraft during the Artemis 1 mission--the test flight of the Artemis program to explore the Moon and beyond. Sandra Jones, a NASA public affairs officer, provided commentary about the mission, including the science behind Orion and the spacesuits that are being tested on mannequins during the flight. The program is NASA’s first attempt to put astronauts on the Moon since 1972. close
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