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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."
You made up an issue, just so you can rant about imperial measurement.
what an ass.
also, it's Reagans fault.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
a solar sail uses photons for propulsion, not the 'solar wind.' the energy comes from reflection. what will shred it is space dust
Kids! Bringing about Armageddon can be dangerous. Do not attempt it in your home!
I hope they included a timer which will deploy the sail even without a command, just in case a problem in communication/control were to happen.
Earlier today on Spaceflightnow (the quote seems to be gone in the current version of the story), the project leader was quoted as saying something like "there is a significant chance of failure". Similarly, the leader of the ill-fated Beagle 2 Mars lander publicly stated that he estimated the chances of success at about 50-50. I think we could all waste a lot less time if we just ignored missions whose own leaders inspire that much confidence. In space, you have zero tolerance for error, so what may seem like a fairly small probability of failure to a dreamer, in all likelihood means certain doom. I hate being this negative, but people think they can launch just any old septic tank into orbit and get back all this wonderful confirmation of their ideas. No lie, as soon as I read the quote from the leader of this solar sail mission, I gave up, before it was even launched.
It should be illegal to say that freedom of speech should be limited.
I'd have to say because unlike a toll for a tunnel or a bridge there is no practical way to distribute advantages of space research to only those who funded it... or are you suggesting that the sole application for space research is public nationalistic masturbation?
Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
If you want to test a wether a car rolls down a hill when you remove the brakes, do you have to contact the board computer to see it moving or would it suffice for the board computer to automatically remove the breaks?
Linux is not Windows
You never actually stop accelerating; it's just that as the photon flux thins out you reach a point beyond which the acceleration is so small that you may as well ignore it, even over long stretches of time. After all, we get a measurable amount of light from objects 14 billion light years away, and every one of those photons accelerates the object that absorbs it by a tiny amount. It's just not enough to feel and nobody's yet thought of any use for them other than imaging.
Why bother to furl the sail? It's a lot more complex than unfurling it and you may not be able to unfurl a second time when you need it. Either leave it be, or jettison the "outbound sail" and have a second "inbound sail" for the deceleration phase.