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Report: Russian Solar Sail Launch Fails; Engine Failure
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
June 21, 2005 7:09 p.m.
--
MOSCOW (AP)--A Russian attempt to launch a solar sail vehicle designed to be propelled by pressure from sunlight failed because the booster rocket suffered engine failure soon after it blasted into space, the state news agency RIA-Novosti reported Wednesday.
The launch was part of a joint Russian-U.S project attempting the first controlled flight of a solar sail.
An unnamed official in Russia's North Sea Fleet told the news agency that the engine failure occurred 83 seconds after the launch from a submerged Russian submarine in the northern Barents Sea at 11:46 p.m. Moscow time (1946 GMT) on Tuesday.
"After 83 seconds, the engine of the booster rocket stopped working and the spacecraft did not enter orbit," the official said on condition of anonymity. He added that a search was underway for the solar sail and the Volna booster rocket and an investigation would study what went wrong.
Lidia Avdeyeva, a spokeswoman for the Lavochkin institute involved in the project, told The Associated Press she could not confirm the information but said that if the engine had failed then the vehicle would have fallen back to Earth.
Past attempts to unfold similar devices in space have failed.
In 1999, Russia attempted a similar experiment with a sun-reflecting device, but the deployment mechanism jammed and the device burned up in the atmosphere.
In 2001, Russia launched another such experiment, but the device failed to separate from the booster.
The project involved Russia's Lavochkin research production institute and is financed by an organization affiliated to the U.S. Planetary Society.
"If the engine did fail, that would be an embarassment because we had problems with the launch vehicle before," said Louis Friedman, executive director of the Planetary Society, who was at the Lavochkin institute to monitor the event.
During the first 45 minutes after launch, in two stages the solar sail was to have separated from the booster and then an engine still powering the device. But space officials lost all signals from the spacecraft.
_______________________________________
Ian
1959 93b
1967 96V4
1968 99
1974 99L
1988 900S
1988 900
1994 900S
1996 900S
1999 9-5SE, 2.3lpt
1995 9000 CSE
2006 9-3SC, 2.0T
Posts in this Thread:
- First Solar Sail Launched Now, Scott Paterson
, Tue, 21 Jun 2005 12:46:21- It might have survived..., Railhead
, Wed, 22 Jun 2005 00:05:43 - uh, if anyone sees a solar sail please call..., Scott Paterson , Tue, 21 Jun 2005 18:54:39
- Check This Out, Ian Glenday , Tue, 21 Jun 2005 19:15:51 <-- Viewing This Message
- Thanks! Very cool. n/m, Noel, Tue, 21 Jun 2005 14:43:51
- er.. submit..., Scott Paterson , Tue, 21 Jun 2005 12:51:22
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(more from Ian Glenday) on Tue, 21 Jun 2005 19:15:51
, Wed, 22 Jun 2005 07:38:38
, Wed, 22 Jun 2005 07:22:19