Posted by Davin Flateau on 24 May 2005 at 1:54 pm.
Filed under Astronomy.
NASA, ESA and the Russian Space Agency have poured billions of dollars into the International Space Station, the Space Shuttle, and preparations to go to the Moon and Mars. But lately, private missions with comparatively microscopic budgets seem to be capturing the attention of the public and the media. A new barnstorming approach toward space exploration is poised to recapture the romantic, adventurous spirit reminiscent of the early days of aviation when Charles Lindbergh, Howard Hughes and Amelia Earhart were heroes of the sky.
Last fall, Burt Rutan’s Spaceship 1 claimed the $10 million X-Prize, jump-starting the seemingly inevitable business of private space tourism. And next month, we may see the next chapter in private space exploration as the Cosmos 1 spacecraft attempts to be the first spacecraft to be propelled by a solar sail.
Cosmos 1 is spearheaded by Cosmos Studios and The Planetary Society, and is due to launch on June 21 from a submerged Russian submarine. The spacecraft was moved to its loading facility today, where it will be placed on top of a converted ICBM that will carry it into earth orbit. A few days after launch, Cosmos 1 it will attempt to unfurl its eight solar sails, and become the first spacecraft to be propelled by light pressure under controlled flight.
Solar sails have long been in the minds of both science fiction writers and spacecraft designers. The theory of sunlight bouncing off of thin, reflective “sails” and providing enough pressure to propel a spacecraft is attractive — both to engineers and space dreamers. Sunlight in space is a free and plentiful energy source, but only provides a tiny “push” to even the largest sail. To make solar sailing practical, future ships will have to fly huge sails, at least hundreds of yards wide. Data gathered from Cosmos 1 will help NASA move forward with its own solar sailing voyage, as it ground tests a pair of 66-foot wide solar sails for future missions.
Once its sails have been deployed, Cosmos 1 should be easily visible from the ground, and mission planners encourage people to go outside and track the ship at it floats through the night sky.
If Cosmos 1 succeeds, it will bolster the new pioneering spirit of independent space development and travel. Its shimmering sails hearken back to earlier ages of exploration when we harnessed earthly wind to open a new world of discovery.
Davin Flateau
Stars Over Kansas » Astronomy News Roundup 6/23 on 23 Jun 2005 at 1:36 pm: 1
[…] s in metric units, that works out to be: way out there. Lost in Space - You may remember our article about the The Planetary Society’s solar sail spacecraft Cosmos 1 that was due to become […]
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