First Controllable Solar Sail Launched Today 237
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."
Deja Vu (Score:5, Informative)
Already failed according to Russian news (Score:2, Informative)
In short, at 83rd second engine stopped working for unknown reason, and the whole thing is currently being intensively searched for. Probably Russian ICBMs are not so good for launching satellites after all.
Possible bad news: (Score:2, Informative)
Tracking stations failed to pick up signals from an experimental solar-driven orbiter launched on Tuesday from a Russian submarine, raising the prospect the mission had failed.
This includes stations in Russia's Kamchatka peninsula, the Marshall Islands, Alaska, the Czech Republic, and two stations outside Moscow.
Hopefully it's a temporary problem, or just a miscalculated orbit.
Endevour... (Score:1, Informative)
For those wandering what the mission will entail exactly, its quite simple
Firstly, the craft must enter orbit.
After a short time, the aluminium solar sails will unfurl.
The speed and trajectory will be continually monitored as per the estimates of the Cosmos crew.
Lastly, the craft will keep heading outwards from low-earth orbit, thus concluding the mission and proving that solar sails are a viable and worthwhile method of space exploration.
Interstellar - no solar wind or enough protons? (Score:2, Informative)
Let's visualize someone on a bike. They stand at the top of a hill (solar radiation effect, closer to the sun, more there is). They peddle enough to get going (ion drive or solar sail). Then they pick up speed rapidly as they go down the hill.
Once they reach the bottom of the hill, where there isn't enough material to push them they fold up the sail - or in our bike version, they let the mechanism keep them moving forward.
During this time the sail is folded - like the biker bent forward to lower wind resistance. As they approach the destination, based on speed, solar radiation - or for a bike, based on how steep and high the next hill is - they eventually unfurl the sail.
Pushx5 + Pushx4 + Pushx3 + Pushx2 + Pushx1
The advantage over a bike is that as you go up the hill (into the solar radiation), you get pulled in by gravity and since your sails are collapsed there is not much push back.
Simple.
Yes, I know it's not linear, I'm just trying to help you visualize it. We can deal with the space-time continuum effects another time as well.
Endevour [sic] (Score:3, Informative)
You forgot one step:
Lastly, the solar wind will shred the sails of this craft, as we have not yet developed a material light enough for solar sails, yet robust enough to withstand long-term exposure to the solar wind.
Still perfectly valid for proof-of-concept, but a good long way from practical application.
Re:Always the risk. (Score:5, Informative)
* 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.
Re:Interstellar - no solar wind or enough protons? (Score:3, Informative)
So when you're craft is going at 200,000 mph, every little hydrogen atom is going to blow a chunk out of your craft and slow down your velocity. So it would make sense to reduce the surface area of your craft, in the direction that it is travelling.
Too early to say if Cosmos has failed (Score:2, Informative)
To quote from the official timeline (which I will not link to on Slashdot for obvious reasons):
"First high-quality ground station contacts: Tarusa and Bear Lakes On the spacecraft's fifth orbit around the Earth, its orbital path will finally carry it high across the sky as seen from the Russian ground stations. These contacts should provide good communication from the spacecraft."
As to the passes and communication attempts that have been attempted so far have been attempts during low-quality situations. It sure would have been nice if they went through but it's too early to say either way yet.
Re:Interstellar (Score:5, Informative)
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).
Not looking good! (Score:3, Informative)
Spaceflight now has the scoop (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Interstellar - no solar wind or enough protons? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Interstellar (Score:2, Informative)
Quite simply, you enter orbit.
Re:Not looking good! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Interstellar - no solar wind or enough protons? (Score:3, Informative)
There is a low density of hydrogen gas out there
Yes, but it's not that low. Actually higher density than the bubble that the Solar system lives inside (as you say, solar wind clears the way). Solar wind is less denser than interstellar space, believe or not.
it wasn't pushed out by the solar wind
They were pushed out. It is just that the gas pressue of interstellar space is in equilibrium with the gas pressure of solar wind. Pushing didn't cease to exist all of sudden, you know?
The rest of points I totally agree. I wanted to mod you up, but the two points above bothered me a bit.
developing story - craft detected (Score:3, Informative)