Methinks Long John Silver would be curious about this sailing expedition. Cosmos 1 stands ready to soar into history tomorrow as a sailing vessel to the stars powered by the stars. The experimental craft launches on Tuesday morning and if it works, will be the next great adventure into the stars.
Cosmos 1 is brainchild of a lot of Russian engineers and Carl Sagan’s Planetary Society. The society and Cosmos studios plugged $4 million to get the project up in the air. Sagan’s widow, Ann Duryan was instrumental in drumming up support behind this project. NASA and European Space Agency as well as Japan and other nations have all expressed an interest in the project. They all have similar projects on the drawing board but nothing ready to go into space.
The project consists of the sailing ship being stuffed into a hollowed-out Russian Volna ICBM and launched from a Russian Submarine in the Barents Sea. The rocket will take off and get most of the way and then the second stage rocket will kick in and get it the rest of the way. The vessel will take a few pictures and then, on the fourth day, the sails will be unfurled.
The sails, composed of Mylar similar to what one sees in balloons, will open up in a pinwheel fashion and begin moving. The vessel will orbit the earth every 101 minutes and will pick up speed as it goes. Estimates project hitting 10,000 miles an hour after the 100th day if all goes well. The largest obstacle will probably be the delicacy of the sails and the correct unfolding of the sails.
All the space agencies are also keeping a close eye on the project. While this won’t alter any plans in the immediate future, it could certainly change the dynamic for long-term projects, especially since President Bush called for man to return the moon and then head to Mars. Some experts say this thing could be to Pluto in 5 years.
In any event, this could well be the next evolutionary jump in space travel because the vessel would have no fuel payload and the ability to travel long distances indefinitely at incredible speeds.
John Stith is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
