Solar Sail Spacecraft Launched From Sub

In the first test of a futuristic space-travel technology, a privately funded American craft was launched successfully early today from a Russian nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea, mission officials said.

The mission, the first by the Pasadena-based Planetary Society, seeks to test the workings of a solar sail--a technology that could take future spacecraft trillions of miles to distant planets without the need for fuel.

Scientists will not know if the sails unfurled successfully until they recover cameras from the spacecraft that were to have landed in a recovery capsule on the Kamchatka Peninsula on Russia’s eastern coast. No images from the mission are expected to be available before Monday. After the test, the sails were expected to burn up in the atmosphere.

CosMos 1 was launched at 4:35 a.m. today Moscow time (5:35 p.m. PDT Thursday), soaring to 255 miles above Earth during its 31-minute journey.

Lou Friedman, the society’s executive director, watched the launch from a boat stationed near the submarine. In a telephone interview, Friedman said he saw a blast of orange and yellow flames as the Russian Volna rocket sped out of the sea and into a heavy cloud layer.

“I saw it for less than a second and a half,” the jubilant Friedman said. “It was absolutely a thing to see.”

When launched, the sails are rolled into bundles the size of a loaf of bread. Unfurled, the thin, reinforced Mylar sheets are as tall as a four-story building and act as mirrors that are gently pushed by the force of the sun.

This gentle push is what causes the sail to move. By changing the angle at which the spacecraft faces the sun, it can be steered. Although light provides only a tiny amount of acceleration compared to that of a rocket engine, the acceleration can increase over time to thousands of miles per hour. The sails could also be powered by military lasers or microwaves beamed from Earth.

John Garvey, a systems engineer for the test, said Russian radar tracked the spacecraft and determined that it had separated from the rocket. The radars were not precise enough to determine if the solar sails unfurled properly, he said.

The nonprofit Planetary Society is a group of thousands of space exploration enthusiasts. Friedman said this project marks the first time a privately funded venture has been launched to develop space technology. This test, and a follow-up mission that will involve a spacecraft with eight sails, will cost a total of $4 million--an extremely low price tag for any space mission.

The low budget meant the society had to do without the constant telemetry and video images of launches and entry into orbit that are standard for NASA missions. Instead, engineers and dozens of supporters gathered around a speakerphone in the society’s conference room to listen to Friedman describe the launch and the atmosphere via a satellite phone. Afterward, they celebrated with champagne and vodka.

Society officials said it was unprecedented for Americans to have access to the launch area, which is home to Russia’s vaunted Northern Fleet.

In the 1970s, NASA saw solar sails as a promising technology. At the time, Friedman worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and was in charge of JPL’s $4-million solar sail program. Much to Friedman’s disappointment, the agency gave up on the technology in 1977.

Some physicists say the technology is the only one currently available that might make travel beyond the solar system possible.

NASA resumed funding solar sail technology earlier this year, but no tests are planned until 2005. Friedman said he could not wait that long.

Friedman, the author of a 1988 book on solar sailing, decided to push a mission through now when he found out engineers at Russia’s Babakin Space Center could undertake a mission relatively cheaply. The cost of a Russian sub launch is $1 million, 20 times less than the cost of a U.S. ground-based launch.

The mission was paid for by the cable television channel A&E; and Cosmos Studios Inc., an Internet and entertainment venture run by Ann Druyan, the widow of astronomer Carl Sagan.

“We couldn’t be happier and more exhilarated,” an emotional Druyan said from her home in Ithaca, N.Y. “My only regret is that Carl isn’t here to see the lessons he taught us all and how we put them to work.”

The craft was supposed to have been launched April 26 but was damaged earlier that month during a test of the electrical system. The damage was subsequently repaired.

More information on the project is available at https://www.planetary.org.