2001-07-23 | MISSIONS, TECHNOLOGIES
Solar Sail Spacecraft Crashes after Launch
A prototype of the privately funded Cosmos 1 spacecraft crashed shortly after blasting off from a Russian submarine on Thursday. The flight was to have been the first to test solar sail technology. Solar sails are designed to use the pressure of the sunÂs rays as a means of traveling through space in much the same way that a standard sail utilizes the power of the wind. Using solar sails, little or no propellant would be needed to fly a spacecraft. Cosmos 1's sails are composed of thin sheets of Mylar, roughly one quarter the thickness of a standard garbage bag. A final version of the spacecraft is scheduled to launch later in the year.
Researchers estimate that these spacecraft could travel fast enough to cover vast distances within a human lifetime. A NASA solar sail spacecraft is planned for launch in 2010. The Interstellar Probe would travel beyond the edge of the solar system into interstellar space. As early as the year 2040, solar sail spacecraft could set out for other stars to explore possible Earth-like planets.
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from CNN, Jul 23, 2001
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