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Planetary Report Report TheThe PLANETARYPLANETARY REPORT REPORT Volume XXIV Number 6 November/December 2004 Cosmos 1: Our Solar Sail Volume XXIV Table of Number 6 Contents November/December 2004 A PUBLICATION OF Features From The Cosmos 1: The Journey Begins! 7 It’s finally happening! Our Cosmos 1 solar sail spacecraft—the most am- Editor bitious project The Planetary Society has ever undertaken—is ready to leave Earth and begin its journey to space. We’re ready to make history by proving s I write this, we have literally just that the Sun’s light really can be harnessed to propel a spacecraft—a technology A announced the launch date for that could one day lead to interstellar flight. For four years we’ve reported on the Cosmos 1, the first space mission to be ups and downs of this precedent-setting mission. Now the spacecraft is built and conducted by a private membership organi- undergoing its final checkout, and we couldn’t be more excited. Here, we share zation—and the first solar-sail–propelled the mission details and chronicle the development of the spacecraft as we gear spacecraft to leave Earth. Launch is set up for our March 2005 launch. for March 1, 2005, with a window that extends until April 7. I know Planetary Society members all realize how significant this launch will be. 12 Our First Look Inside a Comet: Deep Impact For the first time in history, a group of peo- In July 2005, the Deep Impact flyby spacecraft will arrive at comet ple have banded together outside govern- 9P/Tempel 1 and deliver a special package: a 370-kilogram (820-pound) copper ment and industry to conduct a mission to impactor on a collision course with the comet. Deep Impact co-investigator space. Twenty-five years ago, when The Lucy McFadden and principal investigator Mike A’Hearn detail how this Planetary Society was formed, few would unusual mission came to be and what they’re hoping to learn about the comet have thought it possible, but the dedication (and our early solar system) by examining the fresh impact crater left behind. and support of our members are making it happen. So get ready for Cosmos 1. In this issue, you can brush up on details of the project. Departments Then, we’ll soon be inaugurating Solar Sail Watch, which will ask people around 3 Members’ Dialogue the world to watch the skies for Cosmos 1 and help us track our spacecraft as it be- 4 We Make It Happen! gins to orbit Earth and, we hope, gradually move away from its home world to demon- 18 World Watch strate that solar sailing works. In this mission, events will move too 20 Questions and Answers fast for us to keep you informed through The Planetary Report, so if you can, check 22 Society News our website, planetary.org, often. You’ve made this history-making mission possible. Don’t miss a chance to share in your well- deserved pride in Cosmos 1. —Charlene M. Anderson Contact Us Mailing Address: The Planetary Society, 65 North Catalina Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91106-2301 On the Cover: General Calls: 626-793-5100 Sales Calls Only: 626-793-1675 Cosmos 1 has set sail around Earth, its Mylar blades re- E-mail: [email protected] World Wide Web: http://planetary.org flecting the planet that launched it. In the background, the Milky Way beckons. The Planetary Report (ISSN 0736-3680) is published bimonthly at the editorial offices of The Planetary Society, 65 North Catalina Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91106-2301, 626-793-5100. It is available to members of The Planetary Society. Annual dues in the US are $30 (US dollars); in Canada, $40 (Canadian dollars). Dues in other countries are $45 (US dollars). Printed in USA. Third-class postage at Pasadena, California, and at an additional mailing office. Image: Rick Sternbach, Space Model Systems Canada Post Agreement Number 87424. Editor, CHARLENE M. ANDERSON Copy Editor, A. J. SOBCZAK Associate Editor, DONNA ESCANDON STEVENS Proofreader, LOIS SMITH Managing Editor, JENNIFER VAUGHN Art Director, BARBARA S. SMITH Technical Editor, JAMES D. BURKE Science Editor, BRUCE BETTS Viewpoints expressed in columns and editorials are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent positions of The Planetary Society, its officers, or its advisers. ©2004 by The Planetary Society. Cofounder CARL SAGAN 1934–1996 Board of Directors Chairman of the Board BRUCE MURRAY Members’ Professor of Planetary Science and Geology, California Institute of Technology President Dialogue WESLEY T. HUNTRESS JR. Director, Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington Vice President NEIL DE GRASSE TYSON Astrophysicist and Director, Hayden Planetarium, The Debate The whole world stopped to the courage and tenacity in- American Museum of Natural History Executive Director Continues watch Neil Armstrong step grained in the human spirit. LOUIS D. FRIEDMAN ANN DRUYAN Thank you for Andrew P. onto the Moon. —BOB MILLEN, author and producer DANIEL GERACI Ingersoll’s thoughtful article, The public’s preference for Northfleet, England Executive Vice President, Phoenix Companies “Robots, Not Humans, on human exploration is demon- JOHN M. LOGSDON Director, Space Policy Institute, Mars” (see the September/ strated in movies such as The I have read the letters coming George Washington University Advisory Council Chair October 2004 issue of The Right Stuff and Apollo13. Has in to you in The Planetary CHRISTOPHER P. McKAY planetary scientist, NASA Ames Research Center Planetary Report). As much anyone ever made a movie Report concerning whether ELON MUSK as human planetary exploration about the challenges of robotic it would be better to send Chairman, CEO, SpaceX BILL NYE has always captured the pub- space probes? humans on space missions science educator JOSEPH RYAN lic’s, Hollywood’s, and yes, my Of course, probes are rather than robots. The obvi- Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Marriott International own imagination, now is not cheaper and safer, just as it is ous answer to this question ROALD Z. SAGDEEV former Director, Institute for Space Research, the time for an irresponsibly cheaper and safer to look at (in my opinion) is robots— Russian Academy of Sciences STEVEN SPIELBERG costly, risky, and diversionary pictures of a coral reef on the when they can perform the director and producer MARIA T. ZUBER human mission to Mars. Such Internet. But it will never duties the particular mission Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology a mission threatens the proven compare to actually going to requires. As Isaac Asimov Advisory Council and, frankly, stunning, accom- a coral reef. Let us actually put forth in his book I, Robot, JIHEI AKITA Executive Director, The Planetary Society, Japan plishments of NASA’s more go into space. After all, it is robots are more easily adapted BUZZ ALDRIN cost-effective, medium-sized “the final frontier.” to the harsh reality of space Apollo 11 astronaut NORTON BELKNAP projects, not to mention count- —D. POTE, than humans. President, Paul Taylor Dance Company RICHARD BERENDZEN less other more basic, Earth- Dallas, Texas We are not in the Star Trek educator and astrophysicist JACQUES BLAMONT bound needs that compete for world of the 23rd century; we’re Chief Scientist, Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, France RAY BRADBURY scarce government funding. In I have followed the “robotic still blasting humans into space poet and author this era of deep deficit spend- versus human” exploration de- on top of rockets filled mainly DAVID BRIN author ing, NASA should not be re- bate with interest and, indeed, with hydrogen and oxygen. FRANKLIN CHANG-DIAZ duced to an extravagant form plausible arguments have been Re-entry is just as, if not more, NASA, Astronaut Office ARTHUR C. CLARKE of public entertainment at the put forward on both sides. dangerous, as we found out author FRANK DRAKE cost of continued scientific However, I believe that much recently with the Columbia President, SETI Institute; Professor of Astronomy and As- trophysics, University of California,Santa Cruz advancement through more greater emphasis should be disaster. We have a long way to OWEN GARRIOTT former astronaut; Professor, affordable robotic missions. placed upon the early need to go before we should consider University of Alabama, Huntsville GARRY E. HUNT For entertainment, those give our race a foothold else- sending a manned mission to space scientist, United Kingdom BRUCE JAKOSKY stunning close-ups of the where in the solar system. a hostile planet many millions planetary scientist magnificent rings and distant Our planet is beset by nu- of miles away. THOMAS D. JONES planetary scientist; former astronaut and author moons of Saturn and the outer merous threats and problems. I think we need to get better, SERGEI KAPITSA Institute for Physical Problems, planets are all that I need. It is vulnerable to epidemic, faster propulsion systems and Russian Academy of Sciences CHARLES E. KOHLHASE JR. —MICHAEL DOUGHTON, the possibility of massive safer spacecraft, and do our mission designer, author, and digital artist Sacramento, California climate change, resource homework, before we send LAURIE LESHIN planetary scientist shortage, and even imminent humans into space. Missions JON LOMBERG I believe that robotic probes decimation by asteroid im- to the Moon, with the inten- artist HANS MARK are an important part of space pact. Any delay in establish- tion of building a Moon base, University of Texas at Austin YASUNORI MATOGAWA exploration, but the ultimate ing a permanent human might be a better goal to strive Associate Executive Director, JAXA JOHN MINOGUE goal should be human explo- presence elsewhere is not, for at this time. President, DePaul University PHILIP MORRISON ration. Why? Because humans therefore, a sensible option —CHARLES D. HICKS, Institute Professor, are going to live there.
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