Date set for solar spacecraft launch

Posted on: Jun. 8th, 2005 || Source: cnn.com | E-mail Article | Print Article

(CNN) -- A date has been set for the launch of the first ever solar sail-powered spacecraft.

Cosmos 1, which has been funded by The Planetary Society, is scheduled to launch aboard a Russian rocket from a submarine in the Barents Sea on June 21, testing a technology that many experts believe could one day power missions into deep space.

When the spacecraft reaches an orbiting altitude of 800 kilometers (500 miles), it will deploy eight triangular 15-meter (50-foot) sails that will be slowly propelled by the pressure of sunlight particles bouncing off them.

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