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Planetary
Society to Launch Privately Funded Solar Sail Spacecraft –
Cosmos 1
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The Planetary
Society, Pasadena, California, is planning to launch a demonstration
Solar Sail spacecraft later this year. The Planetary Society has
contracted with Makeyev Design
Bureau to launch Cosmos 1 sometime  between
October and December 2001 using a Volna rocket. The Volna is a
submarine-launched converted RSM-50 (SSN-18 “Stingray) ICBM.
Babakin Space Center in Russia is building the spacecraft. Babakin
Space Center is a division of Lavochkin NPO.
The 40 kg (88 lbm)
spacecraft will be launched into an 850 km (459 nmi) circular,
near-polar orbit of Earth. A 30 m (98 ft) diameter sail, configured
in 8 triangular blades and deployed by inflatable tubes from a
central spacecraft at the hub. Each of the triangular blades can be
turned to steer the spacecraft. The orbiting spacecraft would
gradually spiral away from Earth as sunlight pushes on the 602
square-meter (720 square-yard) sail. The spacecraft will carry two
cameras and several instruments. The structure is composed primarily
of aluminized Mylar. It should appear in the night sky as a point of
light as bright as the full Moon.
 A
test of the solar sail deployment will be conducted in a Volna-launched,
sub-orbital flight scheduled between April 19 and 24, 2001. The
30-minute sub-orbital test flight will show that the solar sail can
unfurl in space. The test would consist of the deployment of only
two blades of Mylar polyester film. An inflatable re-entry shield
will be used to return film from cameras aboard the sail after the
half-hour flight ends with a landing on the Kamchatka peninsula.
 The
project's budget is US$4 million. Cosmos Studios, a science-based
entertainment company, is providing the funding.
Last
year, NASA said it wants to launch an interstellar probe powered by
space sails by 2010. NASA’s solar sail would span 402 meters (440
yards).
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