The US Planetary Society will test solar sail technology this month during a 30min sub-orbital flight aboard a Russian submarine launched Volna - a converted intercontinental ballistic missile - fired from the Barents Sea.
The $4 million Cosmos 1 mission, involving Russia's Babakin Space Centre and Makeev Rocket Design Bureau, could be followed by an orbital flight, also aboard a Volna rocket, later this year.
The tests will lead to development of solar-powered deep-space flight, possibly 10 times faster than rocket-propelled spacecraft. Sunlight, composed of photons, bombards the surface of a solar sail, providing continuous thrust. Solar-sail spacecraft propulsion is being studied by a number of space groups, including NASA's Marshall Flight Center, German space agency DLR and the European Space Agency.
The Cosmos 1 mission will involve two Mylar polyester "petals" of a planned eight-petal solar sail. The petals will be deployed from a re-entry vehicle and made rigid via inflatable tubes. The re-entry vehicle will then return to Earth with images of the deployment for study.
The full-size eight-petal aluminised mylar orbital solar sail will have an area of 600m2 (6,500ft2), and will be placed into an 850km (530mile) circular orbit.
Source: Flight International
