The LightSail spacecraft is back online after experiencing power issues.

The spacecraft started reporting data Saturday afternoon for the first time since Wednesday, the Planetary Society reported. 

A glitch in the tiny satellite made it unreachable from Earth for a period of time. After communications were re-established, the satellite still was unable to perform its main function, deploy its giant sail that helped propel it, the Washington Post reported. 

Then on Sunday, it was finally able to unfold its sail. Mission control expects to communicate with the satellite again on Monday to confirm the sail deployment has been completed. 

The original plan was to wait a full 28 days before deploying the sail. The satellite was supposed to orbit the Earth for a full month and let the research team on the ground monitor it.

The LightSail spacecraft encountered errors with its communication system and then had a battery malfunction. Because of these malfunctions, the research team decided to deploy the sail as early is they could.

The LightSail spacecraft is part of the Planetary Society headed by Bill Nye (better known as "Bill Nye the Science Guy"). 

"We've learned a lot about perseverance on this test mission. Although it's in inertial space, LightSail has had me on a rollercoaster," Nye said in a press release Sunday evening. "We are advancing space science and exploration. This mission is part of our mission."

Nye and his colleagues plan to send another satellite similar to the LightSail within the next year or so. This satellite will also have a sail.

It will use the sail to propel itself through space and gain energy from solar power. The sail will catch solar particles emitted by the sun and use them to propel itself, the same way a ship's sail uses wind.

Nye plans to use this technology to operate small satellites in space and someday larger satellites.