A few months ago, California Polytechnic State University played a key role in the first test of the Lightsail satellite. The satellite is based on the modular CubeSat design developed by Cal Poly’s own PolySat club. This successful test of the sail deployment system should provide the data needed for the next, farther-reaching Lightsail launch in 2016.
The concept of the solar sail is an old standby in science fiction, featuring prominently in books like The Mote in God’s Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle and Sunjammer by Arthur C. Clarke. The satellite deploys a very large, very lightweight sail made of reflective material like Mylar and captures momentum from the photons in sunlight. This amounts to only a very, very small amount of thrust, but the available thrust gained over time is as unlimited as sunlight. A probe with a functioning solar sail could inexpensively drift all over the solar system and gather valuable scientific data for years to come. If you remember the Rosetta comet mission last year, over half of the probe’s mass at launch was fuel – a solar sail probe would eliminate the weight, expense, and risk of a chemical rocket.
This mission serves as a reminder that space technology, like any cutting-edge field, demands innovative solutions to complex problems. But more than that, the field isn’t reserved for multinational corporation and governments projects; Lightsail is a citizen-funded project which relies heavily on private foundations like the Planetary Society and on the hard labor of talented university students. Businesses and universities which develop satellites and other space-related technologies should be aware that they can still benefit from patent protection in space. Solar sails alone are the subject of multiple patents such as US4321299, US6194790, US4614319, and US7913953.
By international treaty, earth orbit and the space beyond are not the sovereign territory of any nation, so any use of a patented component necessarily occurs outside of any national territory. However, objects in space are remain under the jurisdiction of their nation of origin. In the case of patent protection, 35 U.S.C. § 105 indicates that patent infringement on a satellite is treated like patent infringement within the United States. Satellites like Lightsail originate from the U.S., are registered as U.S. satellites, and are subject to U.S. jurisdiction. This means that the use of a patented device on a satellite originating in the U.S. is subject to the same rules as if the device were still earthbound and within the country, with the exception of certain international agreements.
In plain terms, if a patented device is a component of a U.S. satellite, then the component is under U.S. jurisdiction. If the device is a component of a Russian satellite, it is under Russian jurisdiction. Most Russian satellites are launched from Kazakhstan and most ESA satellites are launched from French Guiana, but the satellites nevertheless remain under the jurisdiction of their nation of origin, not the host nation for the launch facilities. All of these nations are PCT signatories, so inventors who wish to control their inventions can benefit from the clear path of PCT protection.
Congratulations to Cal Poly and PolySat for the successful mission!