The new flexible polymer and carbon composite boom is coupled with a twelve-unit (12U) CubeSat built by NanoAvionics. After the mission launches atop a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from the company’s Launch Complex 1 in Māhia, New Zealand, the spacecraft will go into a Sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of about 600 miles (~1,000 km) and the sail will deploy in about 25 minutes to cover an area of 860 ft² (80 m²) with the boom unfolding from the size of a hand to 23 ft (7 m) long. Once deployed, the sail will adjust the vehicle’s orbit by angling itself in relation to the solar wind.
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