Launch Day

If all goes well, today should mark the launching of Cosmos 1, the first fully operational light sail propelled spacecraft. The launch will proceed SMERSH-like from a submerged Russian ballistic missile submarine in the Barents Sea , using a surplus Russian ICBM. The official site for the project is loading unusually slowly today. I hope their servers are up to snuff.
Assuming the craft reaches orbit safely and manages to unfurl properly it should be easily visible to naked eye observation. Go here for information on when and where to look. As I mentioned last month, light sails have been a recurring element in science fiction for decades. Niven, Pournelle and Clarke should be enjoying this. I wish Bob Forward and Poul Anderson could have been here, too.
Cosmos 1 will eventually take part in an experiment in beamed energy propulsion. A NASA tracking station will shine a microwave beam on the sail and alter its orbit. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. All that’s for the future.


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