Today’s successful mission clears the way for the Falcon Heavy's third flight, Space Test Program 2 (STP-2), which will carry a fleet of 25 satellites to 3 different orbits. LightSail 2 will be enclosed within a slightly larger spacecraft called Prox-1, and the combined Prox-1/LightSail 2 payload will be deployed into a 720 km circular orbit.

Our most recent official launch date from the Air Force, which is the primary customer for the STP-2 mission, was no earlier than 31 May 2019. We don't expect the launch to occur on that date, but as soon as we have more definitive news to share about the expected launch date, we will!

LightSail 2 is currently in storage at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in California, where it will stay until shipped to the Air Force Research Laboratory in Albuquerque, New Mexico for integration with Prox-1. This week, LightSail 2 engineer Alex Diaz performed a software update to the vehicle's solar sailing algorithm. He also topped off the spacecraft's batteries, and the team will continue to do this periodically before launch.