Another option for those who don't want to download the app: https://www.heavens-above.com (also works for many other satellites).

Set your location in the upper-right corner, then select the ACS3 on the main page.

The good thing about NASA is that they always also give you the metric measurements (and sometimes, as a bonus, some real-world thing they're comparable to). To quote https://blogs.nasa.gov/smallsatellites/2024/08/29/nasa-compo...:

> From above, the sail will appear as a square, with an area of approximately 860 square feet (80 square meters) – about half the size of a tennis court.

Not bad for a device the size of a microwave...

I remember being fascinated by the concept of sailing the sea of stars. Mostly because I read Sunjammer by Arthur C Clarke at an impressionable age lol.

https://fiction.scoutlife.org/the-sunjammer/

Perhaps a really naive question: what can you do with a solar sail in orbit?

I've always heard these as mentioned in the context of very long distance trips (heading away from the sun). But if you're orbiting the earth, how do you take advantage of this? In general, how do you use a solar sail to do anything other than head away from the sun?

This website is a so distracting with ads I couldn’t focus and had to close it. Too bad—i did want that content. Ya ya i have ad blocking but over vpn my dns settings change. Must… fix…

Related: this little object spins because the darker part absorbs light while the lighter part reflects light — or so people initially thought!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiometer

So I wanted to take a look at the actual craft they built, but all I can find are a bunch of nice CGI animations. Usually there are photos of the fully assembled satellite sitting in a test lab somewhere prior to launch.

Anyone have a link to actual pictures of the probe?

Also -- what's happening to science when more and more articles seem to have CGI artists renditions instead of pictures of the real thing. I get that those with ADHD need some stimulation to keep them interested in science funding -- but as a skeptic I find the boring "real" photos far more interesting. It's getting harder to tell real programs from fictional programs with clickbait titles and pretty graphics i.e. "NASA has designs for a working warp drive"

/rant

edit: OK so I finally found an image of the final assembled satellite prior to launch here [0]

[0] https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GL2pPKZW4AAXK1P?format=jpg&name=...

How can the sail control its orientation? Without that it would just get pushed around "at random."

"the spacecraft began flying without attitude control"