Will this thing actually accelerate?<p>The last project was in such a low orbit that acceleration was never possible. At best it could have managed a measurable decrease in the rate of orbital decay. The light pressure was less than the atmospheric drag. As drag is directly related to sail area, and is constant whereas sunlight isn't, is acceleration possible even in a 700+km orbit?
Thought it would be fun to receive the downlinks from Lightsail 2 with an SDR. Does anyone have any info on frequencies/modulation modes being used, above and beyond the Morse code beacon [1] at UHF?<p>[1] <a href="http://www.planetary.org/blogs/jason-davis/2016/20160609-lightsail-2-morse-code.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.planetary.org/blogs/jason-davis/2016/20160609-lig...</a>
I'd love to play around with the math, but am extremely ill-equipped to answer my XKCD What If?-Style Question, so I'll just ask it here.<p>If i'd ignore the time necessary to accomplish my goal, could I use such a craft to steer an asteroid to earth?<p>I'm imagining to balance the minuscule gravity a craft like the LightSail 2 would effect on an asteroid with the propelling force of the lightsail over a few centuries to slowly but steadily tug the asteroid on a collision course.<p>When looking at the cost of the LightSail 2 I'd imagine this to be the most cost effective method of putting a deadline on humanity for the enterprising villain on the lookout for a bargain.