[meteorite-list] Solar Sail: Cosmos 2 (AD)

From: Mexicodoug <mexicodoug_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:11:31 -0500
Message-ID: <8CC29A2D66D61E4-AA8-7D1D_at_webmail-d067.sysops.aol.com>

Dear List,

Carl Sagan's 75th birthday anniversary is coming up. This fateful date
is November 9, 2009. (Also the 20th anniversary of the fall of the
Berlin Wall). The Planetary Society has been somewhat quiet about the
Solar Sail project progress, but the project has always been promoted
with Sagan's quote:

"We have lingered for too long on the shores of the cosmic ocean; it's
time to set sail for the stars."

It seems they are leading up to a Sagan inspirational announcement on
his birthday that concerns Cosmos 2, the replacement Solar Sailboat for
the one that went down due to a failed booster stage from the launch of
a modified Stingray ballistic missile launched by Calamari strategic
nuclear submarine in 2005.

This is at least the third try -there have been arguably others- after
the Planetary Society's first attempt.

Cosmos 1 in 2005 had 600 square meters [6,458 square feet] of sails).

Then, NASA attempted a drop in the bucket mission in 2008 called
NanoSail-D...
It was a wee 9 square meters [100 square feet] of sail.

NASA's experiment crashed with private industry's budget SpaceX Falcon
1 launch vehicle. The lower stage collided with active rocket as it
continued thrusting after detachment and it went down with everything
else aboard.

The Planetary Society's total budget for Cosmos 1 was $4.1 million of
hard earned money passing the hat around to dedicated space and
planetary exploration enthusiasts and Sagan's dedicated widow, Ann
Druyan. This is chump change in the administrative and political
bureaucracy - just doesn't fit the mold as a forward-looking
exploratory projects when everyone is being hammered for results
yesterday.

Cosmos 2 as a similar budget to Cosmo's 1, but it looks like they are
trying to get it off the ground by knocking the cost down to a bit over
half the original's cost after wheeling and dealing with NASA for the
spare parts left over from the tiny NanoSail-D mission and possibly
hitching a ride on a trustworthy Soyuz-Fregat booster in a smaller,
lighter, but equally effective version as Cosmos 1 thanks to the
collective experience and technology refinement since starting the
initiatives.

The great news is that the Discovery Channel ponied up US $250,000 and
things seem to really be set to take off if all continues well. Cosmos
2 hopes to demonstrate the potential of Solar Sailing - a relatively
unproven technology in the sense of steering with it and using it as
the main propulsion and designing lightweight materials. (You can
actully easily sail towards and away from the Sun). Solar Sailing was
first demonstrated impressively in mission extending maneuvers for the
Mariner 10 spacecraft at Mercury in 1974-75 by rotating the solar
panels as sails and gaining several more superb passes at the swift
planet.

This technology has always been on a back burner with NASA; Russia has
dabbled in it as well. Solar Sailing, which uses the pressure developed
 from light bouncing off a mirrored surface, is pretty weak - probably
on the order of ion beam engine for thrust. But ... photons are "free"
and even more can be delivered by lasers from Earth (it is hoped the
mission can demonstrate accelerating Cosmos 2 by Earth based lasers,
too). Think of photons as nanometeoroids and the propulsion system is
even more thrilling. Critical to all missions is the weight and
duration of all fuels. A well designed Solar Sail could accelerate from
earth's orbit to the Kuiper Belt in just 4-5 years and be the fastest
moving object produced by humankind in short order (One could possibly
overtake Voyager 1 while it is still functioning id we were really
serious). A minor detail or two needs to be ironed out (like getting
lightweight, durable materials, but these "mere" technical issues will
be hiccups).

For everyone who has experienced the thrill of sailing, this is a
beautiful adventure and everyone is invited to help and participate on
the maiden sail. It is by far the closest we can come to financing a
real space ship to prove a concept on a shoestring budget and a
fraternity in participation with fellow space enthusiasts. (OK, it
needs a boost beyond the atmosphere, but so does everyone else).

Please help the project if you can toss some money into the hat while
we have the opportunity to actually do something without huge
corporation logos and NASA or other space agency bureaucracy (well,
let's just say it's a classified ad and we are all David Topman and
Chuck Masterson). Donations are just a PayPal button away and just
could make your space-faring descendents proud to recall how you
participated in the first Sail's flower petals finally unfurling and
with a controlled prototype accelerating to higher orbits above Earth.
Really a majestic story when you think about it. The payload includes
excellent cameras to take in the Earthly views and the minutiae in
profiling how the unfurling takes place - something that is not
hammered out at this point and critical to future designs.

Support is kindly appreciated - please join:
https://planetary.org/join/donate/cos207
(just be sure to specify the "Solar Sailing" project.)
Kindest wishes,
Doug
Received on Mon 02 Nov 2009 02:11:31 AM PST