NASA has announced that a solar sail mission, named the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3), is scheduled to lift off from Earth's orbit on April 24. The primary objective of this mission is to test the deployment of solar sails using new composite booms, which are tube-shaped materials designed to unfold and hold thin triangular sheets tautly, forming a kite-like solar sail.

The ACS3 booms are capable of pulling the solar sail into the size of a small apartment from a microwave-sized satellite in under 30 minutes. NASA states that these new composite booms are stiffer and lighter than previous technology, making them more efficient. In fact, seven meters of the deployable booms can roll up into a shape that fits in one's hand.

The spacecraft carrying the ACS3 is set to launch onboard Rocket Lab's Electron rocket from their launch site in Māhia, New Zealand. Solar sails have gained popularity in recent years as affordable alternatives to chemically propelled rockets, harnessing sunlight to propel payloads, similar to sailboats utilizing wind. When photons of light strike a solar sail, they transfer momentum, providing a consistent and subtle push that propels the spacecraft through space.

These solar sails have garnered attention from astrobiologists as potential tools in the search for alien life. Specifically, solar sails could play a significant role in exploring Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's moon Enceladus, as they are believed to have environments conducive to supporting life beneath their icy surfaces.

Unlike previous missions, such as the Planetary Society's LightSail 2, which utilized metal booms, the ACS3 is equipped with lighter booms made of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP). These booms are strong enough to hold the solar sail tautly while also flexible enough to fold compactly for launch. The ACS3 mission is four times larger than LightSail and aims to demonstrate the efficiency and reliability of these newer technologies.

Alan Rhodes, the lead systems engineer of the ACS3 mission at NASA's Ames Research Center in California, expressed hope that the technologies verified through this spacecraft will inspire others to utilize them in innovative ways that have not yet been explored.

With its launch scheduled for April 24, the ACS3 mission marks a significant step forward in solar sail technology and its potential applications in space exploration.