[CraigS]

Originally Posted by Benno18

So why not turn it in to a. . . . . well not full blown mission as such but connect something to it. Take a few pics, analyzing, studies??
seems a bit of a waste to just burn it up in the atmosphere. (the nasa one at least)

G'Day Ben;

The package delivering the sail is small, 12 inches x 4 inches x 4 inches, and has a mass of only 4 kgs. I think they only had room for a battery, a beacon/transmitter and the sail.

The delivery technology is called 'CubeSat' and is designed only for delivery of 'nano satellites' into orbit. In 2004,a single CubeSat device could be made and launched for only $65K - $80K, which makes it viable for University researchers to afford.

They're trying to demonstrate that scientific and engineering space research value can come from modest investments. As soon as one takes this path, one is constrained by physics, engineering tradeoffs and cost optimisation constraints.

Given that the sails have only limited usefulness in space travel, it would seem appropriate to keep the 'nice-to-haves' at the bare minimum.

Cheers