Over four months after its journey into space, a solar-sailing spacecraft has successfully unfurled its wings above Earth. NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) launched on April 24 aboard Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket, and by the end of August, NASA announced that mission operators had confirmed the full deployment of the solar sail in space. On Thursday, Aug. 29 at 1:33 p.m. EDT (5:33 UTC), data confirmed the successful testing of the sail-hoisting boom system.

Similar to how the wind propels a sailboat across the water, a small amount of sunlight is enough to propel solar sails through space. While photons lack mass, they can transfer momentum when they collide with an object — a principle that solar sails harness. Fortunately, the spacecraft that deployed the sail is equipped with four cameras designed to capture a panoramic view of both the reflective sail and the composite booms. The first high-resolution images are expected to be released on Wednesday, Sept. 4.

In the coming weeks, the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System spacecraft will be put through its paces as the team evaluates its ability to maneuver in space. By adjusting its orbit, researchers aim to gain valuable insights into the design and operation of future missions equipped with solar sails.

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“Flight data obtained during the demonstration will be used for designing future larger-scale composite solar sail systems for space weather early-warning satellites, asteroid and other small body reconnaissance missions, and missions to observe the polar regions of the sun,” Rocket Lab noted in a previous mission description.

The spacecraft is orbiting at an altitude roughly twice that of the International Space Station. From above, the sail would appear as a square nearly half the size of a tennis court, measuring approximately 860 square feet (80 square meters).