Hi Peeps,
today there is some exciting news in the field of space travel, and, excuse the pun, but it's doubly uplifting, coz the rocket involved is a converted Russian ICBM (didn't Ethram Cochran, use much a converted missile to construct his first warp drive rocket?).
Conventional rockets have to carry a huge weight of fuel and oxident, making them suitable for local travel (solar system) only. Something else will be needed when we go to the stars.
The Russian rocket is only the, into orbit, launcher, of a solar sail space craft, which will carry no fuel of any kind and will consist of a huge circular array of highly reflective 'sails' kept 'stiff' in the vacuum of space by inflated arms. Light particles from the Sun, photons, the 'Solar Wind' will strike the sails, and the craft will very very very slowly accelerate, 5 ten-thousandths of a metre a second, per second. But after only ONE DAY, its speed will be 45 m/sec, or 100mph and in 3 years 100,000 mph.
The present space craft is a private venture by The Planetary Society and Cosmos Studios, with construction and launch help from the Lavochkin Association and the Space Research Institute in Russia.
Even, if it is feared, the space craft has failed to separate from it's rocket shroud, some how this makes me shiver with excitement,,, the 'little man', not NASA or a huge money seeking corporation, is forging mankind's next step to the stars!!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4110912.stm
http://planetary.org/solarsail/
Leo
RE: 1st solar sail space craft launched
Leonardo,
It is such an awful shame ...! 🙁 If it had been successful, it would have been so inspiring to see such achievement.
MOSCOW - The world's first solar sail spacecraft crashed back to Earth when its booster rocket failed less than two minutes after Tuesday's takeoff, Russian space officials said Wednesday.
Mirrie
RE: 1st solar sail space craft launched
Here is a link to the same story as Mirrie above, for people who are not members of Yahoo...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1664374,00.html
Amber
RE: 1st solar sail space craft launched
Next stop, Warp Drive[sm=FIFangel.gif][sm=FIFangel.gif][sm=FIFangel.gif]
Gxxxxxxxx
RE: 1st solar sail space craft launched
Yes,
they failed, but it was a magnificent failure, and I only hope that lack of money does not bring their efforts to a premature end.
Warp drive is fiction, solar wind powered flight is, bar a few engineering iron-outs, a reality.
Leo.