First Solar Sail Spacecraft to be Launched

Cosmos 1 will be the first mission to test the concept of sailing on light, using the pressure of photons to propel it through space. Reflected light pressure will push against eight giant reflective blades, designed to adjust to the continuously changing orbital energy and spacecraft velocity.

When Cosmos 1, the first solar sail spacecraft, launches on June 21, 2005, it will carry into Earth orbit a CD containing the names of over 75,000 members of The Planetary Society and the Japan Planetary Society, along with the works of early visionaries who inspired solar sailing.

Cosmos 1 is a project of The Planetary Society and Cosmos Studios. Built in Russia, it will launch atop a converted ICBM from a submerged Russian submarine in the Barents Sea. Data obtained during the flight of Cosmos 1 will assist the world space community in analyzing and developing future solar sail technologies, such as those presaged on the CD in an historic essay by F.A. Tsander and a science fiction story by Arthur C. Clarke. See the full CD contents at http://www.planetary.org/solarsailcd/

Cosmos 1 - First Solar Sail Spacecraft to be Launched on Tuesday

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