EarthCup Missions

Test Flights

Earth Cup’s Demonstration Campaigns & Early-Stage Space Races

Before the first full Earth Cup launches, a series of precursor missions and virtual test flights have been designed to validate solar-sailing concepts, prove key technologies, and showcase what an open, global competition in space can achieve. These missions serve as the engineering backbone of the Earth Cup movement, laying the groundwork for the Solar-Sail Regatta to the L1 Project.

Below is an overview of the current mission lineup, with Race 1 including the fullest available detail:

Race 1 — Earth Cup Space Race 1

Orbital Demonstration Flight & Solar Sail Engineering Test

Status: Concept Stage / Early Development
Mission Type: Low-Earth-Orbit Demonstrator
Objective: Validate basic solar-sail deployment, maneuvering, communications, and power systems.

Summary: Earth Cup Space Race 1 is conceived as the very first proving flight in the Earth Cup mission architecture. This mission focuses on solar-sail deployment and navigation techniques within Low Earth Orbit (LEO). By performing a controlled sequence of attitude adjustments, thermal load tests, and sunlight-driven thrust experiments, this mission establishes the technical baseline required for larger-scale competitive races.

Primary Goals:

  • Demonstrate successful sail deployment using a lightweight, scalable composite membrane.

  • Test closed-loop solar-sail steering and micro-thrust navigation.

  • Validate communications, telemetry, and sun-vector tracking systems.

  • Prove that small-vehicle solar sailing can be reliably performed by teams outside the traditional space-agency ecosystem.

Why Race 1 Matters:

Race 1 is the first step in shifting solar sailing from niche, one-off agency missions into a competitive, collaborative, global sport of engineering. It’s the spark that enables universities, startups, nations, and private teams to join a shared challenge, resulting in subsequent races that improve the effectiveness and capabilities of solar-sail craft. This culminates finally in the full Earth Cup race to the L1 Lagrange point.

  • Race 2

    Mission Type: High-Earth-Orbit Demonstrator
    Mission Status: Concept Stage / Early Development
    Mission Objective: Race 2 is expected to build on deployment and maneuvering principles from Race 1 and expand into either higher orbit insertion, increased sail area, increased travel distance or multi-vehicle coordination.

  • Race 3

    Mission Type: High-Earth-Orbit Demonstrator
    Mission Status: Concept Stage / Early Development
    Mission Objective: Race 3 is expected to build on deployment and maneuvering principles from Race 2 and expand into either higher orbit insertion, increased sail area, increased travel distance or multi-vehicle coordination.

  • Race 4

    Mission Type: High-Earth-Orbit Demonstrator
    Mission Status: Concept Stage / Early Development
    Mission Objective: Race 4 is expected to build on deployment and maneuvering principles from Race 3 and expand into either higher orbit insertion, increased sail area, increased travel distance or multi-vehicle coordination.

  • Race 5

    Mission Type: High-Earth-Orbit Demonstrator
    Mission Status: Concept Stage / Early Development
    Mission Objective: Race 5 is expected to build on deployment and maneuvering principles from Race 4 and expand into either higher orbit insertion, increased sail area, increased travel distance or multi-vehicle coordination.

  • Race 6

    Mission Type: High-Earth-Orbit Demonstrator
    Mission Status: Concept Stage / Early Development
    Mission Objective: Race 6 is expected to build on deployment and maneuvering principles from Race 5 and expand into either higher orbit insertion, increased sail area, increased travel distance or multi-vehicle coordination.

  • Race 7

    Mission Type: High-Earth-Orbit Demonstrator
    Mission Status: Concept Stage / Early Development
    Mission Objective: Race 7 is expected to build on deployment and maneuvering principles from Race 6 and expand into either higher orbit insertion, increased sail area, increased travel distance or multi-vehicle coordination.