Cosmos 1
Cosmos 1 was a project by Cosmos Studios and The Planetary Society to test a solar sail in space. As part of the project, an uncrewed solar-sail spacecraft named Cosmos 1 was launched into space at 19:46:09 UTC (15:46:09 EDT) on 21 June 2005 from the submarine Borisoglebsk in the Barents Sea. However, a rocket failure prevented the spacecraft from reaching its intended orbit. Once in orbit, the spacecraft was supposed to deploy a large sail, upon which photons from the Sun would push, thereby increasing the spacecraft's velocity (the contributions from the solar wind are similar, but of much smaller magnitude).
An artist's rendering of Cosmos 1 orbiting the Earth | |
| Mission type | Technology demonstration |
|---|---|
| Operator | The Planetary Society |
| Mission duration | Failed to orbit 30 days (planned) |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Manufacturer | The Planetary Society |
| Launch mass | 100 kg (220 lb) |
| Dimensions | 30 m (98 ft) in diameter |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 21 June 2005, 19:46:09 UTC |
| Rocket | Volna |
| Launch site | K-496 Borisoglebsk, Barents Sea |
| Contractor | Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau |
| End of mission | |
| Destroyed | Failed to orbit |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric orbit (planned) |
| Regime | Low Earth orbit |
| Altitude | 800 km (500 mi) |
| Inclination | 80.00° |
Had the mission been successful, it would have been the first ever orbital use of a solar sail to speed up a spacecraft, as well as the first space mission by a space advocacy group. The project budget was US$4 million. The Planetary Society planned to raise another US$4 million for Cosmos 2, a reimplementation of the experiment provisionally to be launched on a Soyuz resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The Discovery Channel was an early investor. However, advances in technology and the greater availability of lower-mass piggyback slots on more launch vehicles led to a redesign similar to NanoSail-D, called LightSail-1, announced in November 2009.