The solar sail is a spacecraft powered by the reflected light pressure of the sun on the film. It does not consume additional chemical fuel during the voyage. Features are a small mass, low cost, low power consumption, and long range. “Tianfan-1″ is a solar sail developed by the CAS Shenyang Institute of Automation and was launched by a Xiaoxiang-1 satellite 07 on August 31. “Tianfan-1” has recently carried out a series of key technical tests on unfolding and assembling and will provide technology for solar sail research and development at a larger scale.
CAS news release, December 30, 2019
