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First Controllable Solar Sail Launched Today

Posted by timothy on from the now-for-obedience-school dept.

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."

5 of 237 comments (clear)

  1. Did they program it in miles again? by WillAffleckUW · · Score: -1, Troll

    We lose more space probes due to a silly American persistance in using miles and feet when the whole world - and, yes, I do mean every single nation except for the USA - uses metric.

    Those rounding errors will get you every time.

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    1. Re:Did they program it in miles again? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

      America is the worlds largest Superpower. We'll do what we want. You can keep your damn metric system. We'll keep doing just fine running things our way.

      Call is sour grapes if you will, but I'm proud to be an american. Besides, we are forced learn metric in school from the time we're young. We "choose" to be different.

  2. Might as well be Fox News by S.J.+Wackness · · Score: -1, Troll

    Of all the media outlets which covered this story, you chose Fox News?

  3. Re:Interstellar - no solar wind or enough protons? by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 0, Troll


    Worst. Analogy. Ever.

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  4. Re:Well... by hattig · · Score: -1, Troll

    The spacecraft has merely exercised its typical 'omg my parents aren't here' response and gone to the moon to drink cheap alcohol.

    *artificial wait time because slash has been changed to fuck up most fast typists*

    Fuck! Slashdot requires you to wait between each successful posting of a comment to allow everyone a fair chance at posting a comment.

    It's been 5 minutes since you last successfully posted a comment

    OMFG Slash is fucked up beyond all recognition!

    Slashdot requires you to wait between each successful posting of a comment to allow everyone a fair chance at posting a comment.

    It's been 7 minutes since you last successfully posted a comment

    FUCKING RETARDED ASSMONKEYS!

    Slashdot requires you to wait between each successful posting of a comment to allow everyone a fair chance at posting a comment.

    It's been 10 minutes since you last successfully posted a comment

    fuck you slashdot, i can't even make a light hearted jokey post because you can't code for shit. stupid cunts

    Slashdot requires you to wait between each successful posting of a comment to allow everyone a fair chance at posting a comment.

    It's been 16 minutes since you last successfully posted a comment

    For fuck's sake, man, come on!

    *closes browser, restarts Firefox, sees if the problem continues*

    Slashdot requires you to wait between each successful posting of a comment to allow everyone a fair chance at posting a comment.

    It's been 18 minutes since you last successfully posted a comment

    *changes to IE*

    Slashdot requires you to wait between each successful posting of a comment to allow everyone a fair chance at posting a comment.

    It's been 20 minutes since you last successfully posted a comment

    Slashdot requires you to wait between each successful posting of a comment to allow everyone a fair chance at posting a comment.

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