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."

"Bummer"

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a bit more than a "Bummer":

Engineer #1: Yessiree, that solar sail is up there! This calls for a celebration!
Engineer #2: Um. Where is it?
Engineer #1: [points] Up there!
Engineer #2: Where up there?
Engineer #1: Way, way up there.
Engineer #2: You have no idea, right?
Engineer #1: [weak laugh] Nah.
Engineer #1: [shrug] Bummer.

uh oh

[MrDoh!]

I'm just waiting for when it comes back as a near omnipotent being and starts demanding to see it's creator.

I can't see it either

[l0ungeb0y]

404 File Not Found

The requested URL (science/05/06/21/2251211.shtml?tid=160&tid=126&ti d=14) was not found.

...

Unfortunately I can't locate a google cache for the missing spacecraft.

Anyone able to post a mirror?

The first uncontrollable solar sail launched in 82

[Anonymous Coward]

When I tied a Keep on Truckin' T-shirt to an Estes Andromeda.

Re:Presumably...

[Tackhead]

>...if the craft suffered "failure to enter orbit at all", presumably that means it hit space and kept going, right? I'd imagine someone would have noticed a Russian ICBM falling randomly out of the sky.

In other words, what you're trying to say is that somewhere downrange of post-Soviet Russia, solar sail will eventually find yo*CRUNCH*
NO CARRIER

Re:Possible bad news:

[Anonymous Coward]

Engineer #1: A few hundred kilometers that way or this way wouldn't matter...
Engineer #2: Miles
Engineer #1: What do you mean "miles"?

pwnd!

Of course they can't find it...

[centauri]

... it must be halfway to Coruscant by now.

Re:Did they program it in miles again?

[Rei]

Actually, I'm betting that this time it was due to a spelling error. The sub that launched the Volna rocket was the Borisoglebsk, The first receiving station was at Petropavlovsk on the Kamchatka penninsula. The temporary ground station to pick it up next was on Majuro. Then it will next contact Panska Ves in the Czech republic. It's not until the ground stations at the Tarusa and Bear Lakes that the spelling becomes sufferable. :)

Re:Presumably...

[TheKidWho]

I know what really happened

You see, the Russians never launched Cosmos 1, they realized that these guys would be a bunch of suckers so what they did, is they got them to pay for the launch, and then launched their own new spy satellite In the same orbit that Cosmos 1 was supposed to be in. And now they are going to tell them "tough luck, you must have out bad communications equipment on her or something". So the Americans pay the money, and the Russians get to launch their spy satellite.

Next Week on Conspiracy Theory 101
Sony and Microsoft are really in bed against Nintendo!

Re:Did they program it in miles again?

[gardyloo]

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.

You sure do.

It's on mars..

[multipartmixed]

...hanging out with the Vikings.

Of course they can't hear it!

[ZSpade]

It's in space!

Re:uh oh

[Ravatar]

I, for one, welcome our sun sucking fan-blade overlords.

Re:How does it stop?

[g-san]

It uses a solar anchor.

Launched from a Russian sub? Re:"Bummer"

[darkonc]

There are a few explanations here:

• The secret remenants of the US 'star wars' program decided it was a 'terrorist act' and shot it down (and now they've realized that they can't even boast of this 'success').
• The russians forgot to disable the 'stealth' features of the missile.
• The launch was on paper only. They didn't expect people to actually check the results.
• It was fueled with hydrogen Peroxide and alcohol... too much of the alcohol was saved to celebrate the successful launch.
• Translation error in the instruction list. ("Oh, this pin!")
• Are you aware that Russians use metric?

Gotta be said.

[Cervantes]

I'll probably get modded down for this, but...

The Project Operations Assistant.
Let's review:
Sexy foreign (to me) accent... check
Geek... check
Cute... check
Knows how to blog... check
Plays with models all day long ... check
Gets to work with stuff that makes a REALLY BIG BOOM... check

Can take a joke... we'll see. :)

Maybe they should search for it on eBay...

[Anonymous Coward]

Link [wirednews.com] for those too young to remember.

Re:I can't see it either

[prjames]

Closest mirror I believe is Hubble Space Telescope, but I may be wrong.

You have to love russian engineering...

[smoany]

From the story:

the first stage engine experienced "a spontaneous stoppage" 83 seconds into launch. The vehicle was allowed to continue flying because it lacked a destruct system. But there has been no further confirmation of the report.

I just love that. The vehicle was "allowed" to continue to fly, because there's no way in hell they could stop it... Oops.

Well, I hope it's doing ok, wherever it is.

Re:Presumably...

[forkazoo]

Gieven the young average age of the slashdot crowd, many may not be familiar with the joys of BBS'ing on modems, so I dare say that in post-Soviet Russia, no carrier jokes are for old people.

I mean, in post Soviet Russia, ICBM welcomes you as overlord for old people.