Free Republic

How much can you pack on top of one rocket? A United Launch Alliance Atlas V is carrying up the U.S. Air Force's so-called secret space plane, The Planetary Society's solar sail, and several CubeSats, or tiny satellites. The launch window is Wednesday from 10:45 a.m. ET and 2:45 p.m. ET at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. You can watch it on a webcast starting at 10:45 a.m. ET. The Air Force space plane is actually called the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle. This is the fourth mission for the plane. It looks like a small space shuttle, but...

After years of false starts, disappointment and delay, one of spaceflight's brightest hopes could be about to take to the skies. Cosmos 1, the world's first solar sailing ship, could be launched from a Russian nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea in two weeks. On June 21, if all goes well, a Soviet Volna rocket originally designed to deliver nuclear warheads will push a 100kg (220lb) American-designed spacecraft to an orbit 500 miles high. The payload will open and like the petals of a flower, eight huge triangular blades 15 metres long will unfurl to reflect the rays of the...

Russia has dispatched a solar-sail spacecraft and a space parachute to waters off its northern coast to be launched from a submarine in the Barents Sea. The unmanned spacecraft with eight triangular sail blades, each 16.5 yards long, and a new inflatable deceleration device, have been dispatched to the main administrative base of Russia's Northern Fleet, Severomorsk, the Lavochkin production and science association said. The spacecraft, called Cosmos 1, is to be launched on June 21. The launch had been planned for March but was postponed, because the preparatory work had not been completed in time. Scientists will study the...

The Planetary Society, a U.S. nonprofit group devoted to space exploration, plans to launch the world's first solar sail spacecraft as early as June 21. Cosmos 1 will be launched from a submerged Russian submarine in the Barents Sea and carried into orbit by a converted intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Initially orbiting the Earth at an altitude of about 500 miles (800 kilometers), the spacecraft will gradually move outward by solar sailing—propelled by the pressure of light particles from the sun striking the craft's eight triangular sails. The journey has no destination. The mission's goal is simply to prove that...

A wait in excess of four years is almost over for scientists and engineers eagerly awaiting launch of the first test flight of a revolutionary solar sail. The spacecraft has been shipped from its factory to a port in far northern Russia to undergo final preparations for its submarine launch next month.

"The Planetary Society (home of SETI) is planning to launch the first Solar Sail Spacecraft, Cosmos 1, later this month. The exact launch date is scheduled to be announced on Monday, May 9. This event represents one of the first privately-funded space missions with the objective of pure research. It will be launched from a Russian submarine in the Barents Sea. The spacecraft consists of a body surrounded by 8 triangular sails, that will use the tiny force of reflected sunlight to (potentially) accelerate to tremendous speeds. Unfortunately, the craft is not expected to leave Earth's orbit due to degradation...

Shiny and crinkly, the material looks more like something meant to wrap frozen foods than to provide a new way to travel through space. The aluminized Mylar reflects sunlight, thereby deriving a little kick from the recoiling photons. In principle, big sheets could act as solar sails that over time would reach speeds exceeding 100 kilometers a second—far faster than chemical rockets. The first solar sail, called Cosmos 1, will go for its test flight in early 2004. The demonstration of a revolutionary way to travel to the planets and maybe even to the stars would seem to be a...