The CubeSat, which is about the size of a loaf of bread, completed transmission of its first image to a ground station at Poly San Luis Obispo in California, showing the sail open and partly spread out.

Though the deployment wasn't confirmed until today, it actually occurred on June 7. The CubeSat took a self portrait on June 8, which was transmitted to Earth in packets as the satellite passed over a mission ground station.

"This LightSail test taught us a lot, just as we hoped it would, and so we're ready to do some real solar sailing with LightSail's 2016 mission," says Bill Nye, Planetary Society CEO.

Built by Stellar Exploration Inc, LightSail was launched on May 20 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station as a piggyback cargo atop an Atlas V rocket for the US Air Force's AFSPC-5 mission. Its purpose is to test critical systems for a solar sail system that uses the pressure of sunlight to propel a spacecraft , similar to the way wind propels a sailing ship. Though the pressure of photons striking the sail is almost indiscernible, the fuelless system has the potential of generating remarkably high velocities over time.