Solar Sail Lost in Space

PASADENA, California — The Cosmos solar sail is missing
shortly after its launch from a Russian nuclear submarine.

The $4 million Cosmos 1 spacecraft blasted off atop a converted Russian
missile at approximately 12:46 p.m. Pacific Time on Tuesday, but ground
tracking stations failed to pick up its signal after an initial burst of
data, according to mission controllers.

The U.S. Strategic Command, which monitors launches, also could not detect the
spacecraft at its expected position in orbit.

"The news is not good," said Cosmos 1 project operations manager Jim
Cantrell. "On
the other hand, we do not have direct evidence of a failure" It’s worrisome
and it’s not what we hoped to have happen."

One wonders exactly why they decided to launch the thing
from a Russian missle submarine. It was probably on special…

from Wired News