Date set for solar spacecraft launch

[Ripley]

(CNN) -- A date has been set for the launch of the first ever solar sail-powered spacecraft.

Cosmos 1, which has been funded by The Planetary Society, is scheduled to launch aboard a Russian rocket from a submarine in the Barents Sea on June 21, testing a technology that many experts believe could one day power missions into deep space.

When the spacecraft reaches an orbiting altitude of 800 kilometers (500 miles), it will deploy eight triangular 15-meter (50-foot) sails that will be slowly propelled by the pressure of sunlight particles bouncing off them.

Over 24 hours, Cosmos 1 will reach a speed of just 100 miles an hour. But while fuel-powered spacecraft accelerate quickly before cruising at a constant speed, a solar sail would continue to gather momentum, eventually reaching a speed far in excess of anything achieved by conventional spacecraft.



http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/06/07/solarsail.vision/index.html

Cool website for Cosmos 1 Launch Countdown (June 21st):

http://www.solarsail.org/

[Toots]

1. Over 24 hours, Cosmos 1 will reach a speed of just 100 miles an hour

Didn't Cosmos have to reach balistic speed to leave Earth's Gravity? Did they slow it to zero speed before opening the sails? I don't get it.

[htuttle]

2. A nuclear sub will launch a larger vehicle into orbit

Then it looks like they'll deploy the Cosmos from the orbiting launch vehicle. I think the 100 miles per hour velocity is relative to the orbiting capsule.

[Ripley]

3. It uses a russian rocket to deploy into space.

Eventually it could reach 100,000 miles per hour and get to Pluto in five years.

The Solar Sail link has a neat little intro video that shows the launch.