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First Controllable Solar Sail Launched Today
clustermonkey writes "The first controllable solar sail was launched earlier today from a Russian sub in the Barents Sea. The Planetary Society, founded by Carl Sagan, organized the project and were funded by Cosmos Studios, founded by Sagan's widow. There have been 2 other solar sail deployments by others, but this will be the first to attempt controlled flight. The sail is scheduled to deploy June 25." All may not be well, though: Snot Locker writes "The Cosmos 1 Weblog is showing that, although the launch initially looked successful, they can't seem to find it or hear it. Bummer. Previous Slashdot coverage on the Cosmos 1 Solar Sail mission can be found here."
I swear I remember this happening before.
If you want to know what the people organizing the mission are thinking, the Planetary Society's Latest Update section is a good spot to go. As it stands, the following has been stated:
* The signal didn't dissapear suddenly when the kick fired - it became irregular, and then dissapeared after three minutes.
* The signal was received clearly after launch for six minutes.
* There were irregular readings coming from the Volna; however, clearly the craft detached, or there wouldn't have been six minutes of signal.
* STRATCOM can't find the satellite. That doesn't mean that it's gone - only that it's not where they told them to look. Likewise, the lack of ground station reception could mean the same thing. It could be in the wrong orbit, which is actually a more common phenominon than a total craft loss.
* The chance of signal acquisition at the early two stations was only considered marginal to begin with. The big test will be at the permanent stations in Paska Ves, and especially the Tarusa and Bear lakes.
* Not receiving a signal from a spacecraft during the first few orbits is "not extremely unusual". Nonetheless, they do sound a bit nervous.
The War of 1812... the good 'ol days when the federal government actually tried to save New Orleans.
Solar sails aren't driven by solar wind or protons, they are driven by light (photons).
An interstellar voyage might be possible, but would probably require a laser or microwave system aimed at the sail for much of its journey (a brief "push" like that is also being tested as part of this experiment).
Spaceflight Now has posted a story about the launch. The 1st stage failed after 83 seconds.