Ikaros solar sail
E410449
The Ikaros solar sail is a Japanese experimental spacecraft that demonstrated the first successful use of solar sail propulsion for interplanetary travel.
All labels observed (4)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| IKAROS | 1 |
| Ikaros solar sail canonical | 1 |
| Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun | 1 |
| JAXA solar sail research program | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T4065578 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Ikaros solar sail Context triple: [H-IIA launch vehicle, launchesNotablePayload, Ikaros solar sail]
-
A.
Project Orion (nuclear pulse propulsion)
Project Orion (nuclear pulse propulsion) was a mid-20th-century concept for an interplanetary and interstellar spacecraft propelled by the controlled detonation of nuclear explosives behind a massive pusher plate.
-
B.
Cygnus spacecraft
The Cygnus spacecraft is an uncrewed commercial cargo vehicle developed by Northrop Grumman to deliver supplies and scientific equipment to the International Space Station.
-
C.
Nomad space probe
The Nomad space probe is a fictional, highly advanced robotic spacecraft from the Star Trek universe that becomes a powerful and dangerous hybrid entity after merging with an alien probe.
-
D.
LightSail 2
LightSail 2 is a small experimental spacecraft developed by The Planetary Society to demonstrate controlled solar sail propulsion in Earth orbit.
-
E.
spacecraft Icarus II
Spacecraft Icarus II is the fictional solar-bomb delivery vessel at the center of the 2007 science fiction film "Sunshine," tasked with reigniting a dying Sun.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Ikaros solar sail Target entity description: The Ikaros solar sail is a Japanese experimental spacecraft that demonstrated the first successful use of solar sail propulsion for interplanetary travel.
-
A.
Project Orion (nuclear pulse propulsion)
Project Orion (nuclear pulse propulsion) was a mid-20th-century concept for an interplanetary and interstellar spacecraft propelled by the controlled detonation of nuclear explosives behind a massive pusher plate.
-
B.
Cygnus spacecraft
The Cygnus spacecraft is an uncrewed commercial cargo vehicle developed by Northrop Grumman to deliver supplies and scientific equipment to the International Space Station.
-
C.
Nomad space probe
The Nomad space probe is a fictional, highly advanced robotic spacecraft from the Star Trek universe that becomes a powerful and dangerous hybrid entity after merging with an alien probe.
-
D.
LightSail 2
LightSail 2 is a small experimental spacecraft developed by The Planetary Society to demonstrate controlled solar sail propulsion in Earth orbit.
-
E.
spacecraft Icarus II
Spacecraft Icarus II is the fictional solar-bomb delivery vessel at the center of the 2007 science fiction film "Sunshine," tasked with reigniting a dying Sun.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (50)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Japanese spacecraft
ⓘ
interplanetary probe ⓘ solar sail spacecraft ⓘ |
| acronym |
Ikaros solar sail
self-link
ⓘ
surface form:
IKAROS
|
| aphelionDistance | about 1.1 AU ⓘ |
| attitudeControl |
liquid crystal devices on sail
ⓘ
reaction wheels ⓘ |
| communicationBand | X-band ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | Japan ⓘ |
| deploymentMethod | spin-induced centrifugal deployment ⓘ |
| dryMass | about 307 kg ⓘ |
| firstOf |
first spacecraft to demonstrate solar sail propulsion for interplanetary travel
ⓘ
first successful interplanetary solar sail mission ⓘ |
| fullName |
Ikaros solar sail
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
surface form:
Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun
|
| hasFeature |
corner tip masses for sail deployment
ⓘ
embedded thin-film solar cells on sail surface ⓘ |
| hasInstrument |
Dust Counter
ⓘ
Gamma-Ray Burst Polarimeter (GAP) ⓘ |
| inspired | subsequent solar sail mission concepts by JAXA ⓘ |
| launchCountry | Japan ⓘ |
| launchDate | 2010-05-21 ⓘ |
| launchMass | 315 kg ⓘ |
| launchSite | Tanegashima Space Center ⓘ |
| launchVehicle |
H-IIA launch vehicle
ⓘ
surface form:
H-IIA 202
|
| manufacturer |
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
ⓘ
surface form:
JAXA
|
| missionObjective |
demonstrate solar sail deployment in space
ⓘ
demonstrate solar sail propulsion for interplanetary travel ⓘ test attitude control using liquid crystal devices ⓘ test thin-film solar cells in deep space ⓘ |
| missionStatus | completed ⓘ |
| missionType |
solar sail demonstration
ⓘ
technology demonstration ⓘ |
| operator |
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
ⓘ
surface form:
JAXA
|
| perihelionDistance | about 0.7 AU ⓘ |
| powerSource | thin-film solar cells on sail ⓘ |
| primaryMissionTarget | interplanetary space between Earth and Venus ⓘ |
| propulsionType | solar radiation pressure ⓘ |
| relatedProgram |
Ikaros solar sail
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
surface form:
JAXA solar sail research program
|
| sailArea | about 200 square meters ⓘ |
| sailShape | square ⓘ |
| sailSideLength | about 14 meters ⓘ |
| sailThickness | about 7.5 micrometers ⓘ |
| sailType | spinning solar sail ⓘ |
| solarSailDemonstrationConfirmed | 2010-06-09 ⓘ |
| solarSailPropulsionConfirmed | 2010-07-09 ⓘ |
| spacecraftBusShape | cylindrical ⓘ |
| spinRateDuringSailDeployment | about 20 rpm ⓘ |
| technologyHeritageFor | JAXA Solar Power Sail mission concepts ⓘ |
| trajectoryType | heliocentric orbit ⓘ |
| usesMaterial | polyimide sail membrane ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Ikaros solar sail Description of subject: The Ikaros solar sail is a Japanese experimental spacecraft that demonstrated the first successful use of solar sail propulsion for interplanetary travel.
Referenced by (4)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
subject surface form:
IKAROS
this entity surface form:
Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun
subject surface form:
IKAROS
this entity surface form:
IKAROS
subject surface form:
IKAROS
this entity surface form:
JAXA solar sail research program