Cosmos1 Ships in Preparation for June Launch

[SirUlli]

Cosmos 1, the world?s first solar sail spacecraft, has shipped in preparation for a launch window that opens on June 21, 2005, traveling from the test facility of Lavochkin Association in Moscow to Severomorsk, Russia. The innovative and first-of-its-kind solar sail, a project of The Planetary Society and Cosmos Studios, will launch atop a converted ICBM from a submerged Russian submarine. It will deploy in Earth orbit and attempt the first controlled flight of a solar sail.

?Reaching this milestone puts us on the doorstep to space!? said Louis Friedman, Planetary Society Executive Director and the Cosmos 1 Project Director. ?We are proud of our new spacecraft and hope that Cosmos 1 blazes a new path into the solar system, opening the way to eventual journeys to the stars.?
...

http://www.planetary.org/solarsail/prelaunch_report1_20050523.html

and

Sagan?s dream

The announcement today of the Cosmos 1 launch date coincided with the birthday of Carl Sagan, a co-founder of The Planetary Society. He served as President of the group until his death in 1996 and would have been 70 years old today.

Ann Druyan, head of Cosmos Studios, was Sagan?s professional collaborator and widow. As Cosmos 1 Program Director, she said that her husband would have been pleased regarding the upcoming solar sail mission.

In particular, using a converted weapon of mass destruction as a means to explore the Universe is a dream of Sagan, "that we would not be just cleaver with our science and technology, but that we would be wise too," Druyan related.

"Happy birthday Carl," Druyan said as she threw the switch that began the Cosmos 1 countdown clock.

http://www.csicop.org/si/2003-11/ann-druyan.html

sir Ulli

 

[RaySun2Be]

excellent!

In particular, using a converted weapon of mass destruction as a means to explore the Universe is a dream of Sagan, "that we would not be just cleaver with our science and technology, but that we would be wise too," Druyan related.

can't agree more!

Thanks!

 

[Spacehead]

Thanks SirUlli
I wondered what was happening with this project.

 

[Twioz]

Thanks for the update! Incedently my sons middle name is Sagan after the great Carl Sagan whom I grew up watching and admiring.

 

[lobadobadingdong]

Nice, and they are launching this on my 26th birthday too.

 

[Assimilator1]

Cool

I just hope that no-one else mistakes the launch for something else!:shocked:

 

[networkman]

Originally posted by: SirUlliIn particular, using a converted weapon of mass destruction as a means to explore the Universe is a dream of Sagan, "that we would not be just cleaver with our science and technology, but that we would be wise too," Druyan related.

Zefram Cochrane would be pleased.

 

[SirUlli]

Originally posted by: networkman

Originally posted by: SirUlliIn particular, using a converted weapon of mass destruction as a means to explore the Universe is a dream of Sagan, "that we would not be just cleaver with our science and technology, but that we would be wise too," Druyan related.

Zefram Cochrane would be pleased.

that would be the right man at the right place...

Thanks networkman for the remember...

by all others who not know him

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zefram_Cochrane



Sir Ulli

 

[networkman]

If you follow "The Phoenix" link, you'll see that the ship was made from a nuclear missile.

 

[Dalephi]

Thanks SirUlli.

 

[Assimilator1]

Originally posted by: networkman

Originally posted by: SirUlliIn particular, using a converted weapon of mass destruction as a means to explore the Universe is a dream of Sagan, "that we would not be just cleaver with our science and technology, but that we would be wise too," Druyan related.

Zefram Cochrane would be pleased.

Sure would

 

[SirUlli]

 

[SirUlli]

Jun 14, 2005 | 09:15 PDT | 16:15 UTC
Launch minus 7 days 3 hours 30 min

Rehearsing the Launch

About a dozen people assembled here at POP pretty early in the morning for a simulation of the first hours of the Cosmos 1 mission, due to take place a week from now. These simulations are terribly important because they point out all kinds of logistical issues that need to be solved before launch day. Things like how the phone systems work (or don't work), how we are going to get word of the precise launch time to the guy who will be manning our temporary ground station out in the Marshall Islands, and stuff like that. One thing we learned pretty quickly was that we must not forget to synchronize our watches, or at least we must all have an accurate and precise UTC (Universal Time Coordinate) clock to refer to.

more info

http://www.planetary.org/solarsailblog/index.html

and

http://home.teleos-web.de/ubrinkschmidt/seti/sagan10.jpg

Sir Ulli

 

[amdxborg]

Cool thanx SirUlli!

 

[SirUlli]

<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.planetary.org/solarsailblog/index.html">The Planetary Society's Cosmos 1 Weblog:Bringing you Solar Sail Mission Events As
TheyHappen!</a>

The buzz begins!

Yesterday, we sent out an invitation to print, TV, and Web media for the launch event we'll be holding at our Pasadena headquarters on Tuesday. So today, the buzz really began about our mission, and the phones are beginning to ring off the hook.

It can be a slighly distracting environment but mostly it's exciting. After all, two of the biggest goals of this mission, for us, are creating a buzz about solar sailing, and creating a buzz about how diverse entities can cooperate to do something innovative and inspirational in space exploration. Just look at the list: there's a nongovernmental organization (us), a private company (Cosmos Studios), foreign space agencies and organizations (Lavochkin and IKI, Makeev and the Russian Navy), domestic agencies (NASA, NOAA, and the University of California - Berkeley), and thousands of other friends and well-wishers (members, donors, and volunteers, both individuals and institutions) involved in making this mission happen.
...

June 16, 2005 | 19:14 PDT | Jun 17 02:14 UTC
Launch minus 4 days 17 hours 31 min

hope all is working good, as

Zefram Cochrane ...

says...

Hit Me

Sir Ulli

 

[Assimilator1]

Thanks for the updates Ulli

Btw I joined TPS a few weeks back

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: SirUlli
<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.planetary.org/solarsailblog/index.html">The Planetary Society's Cosmos 1 Weblog:Bringing you Solar Sail Mission Events As
TheyHappen!</a>

The buzz begins!

Yesterday, we sent out an invitation to print, TV, and Web media for the launch event we'll be holding at our Pasadena headquarters on Tuesday. So today, the buzz really began about our mission, and the phones are beginning to ring off the hook.

It can be a slighly distracting environment but mostly it's exciting. After all, two of the biggest goals of this mission, for us, are creating a buzz about solar sailing, and creating a buzz about how diverse entities can cooperate to do something innovative and inspirational in space exploration. Just look at the list: there's a nongovernmental organization (us), a private company (Cosmos Studios), foreign space agencies and organizations (Lavochkin and IKI, Makeev and the Russian Navy), domestic agencies (NASA, NOAA, and the University of California - Berkeley), and thousands of other friends and well-wishers (members, donors, and volunteers, both individuals and institutions) involved in making this mission happen.
...

June 20, 2005

Launch minus 1 days 9 hours 31 min

hope all is working good, as

Zefram Cochrane ...

says...

Hit Me

Sir Ulli

The day has arrived:

The spacecraft will be launched from a submerged Russian submarine in the Barents Sea. It will be carried into orbit on board a Volna rocket - a converted ICBM left over from the old Soviet arsenal.

Emily Lakdawalla is the Project Operations Assistant and Image Processing Coordinator for Cosmos 1 and will bring you updates on the Solar Sail mission as they happen.
=====================================================

Emily :thumbsup:

 

[Assimilator1]

Cool!

 

[SirUlli]

Jun 20, 2005 | 13:25 PDT | 20:25UTC
Launch minus 23 hours 20 min

The clock has just turned over.

Yikes. Less than a day left!

We are almost done with the rounds of TV interviews taking place in the POP room. Soon we'll lock it down and will be setting our operations into motion.

Here at The Planetary Society, the POP room is going to be in the capable hands of Jim Cantrell, another longtime friend of Lou's. He's just arrived from Utah, and is chafing at the bit to get these TV crews out of here and get going with preparations for our last rehearsal. More on that

http://planetary.org/solarsailblog/index_02.html

Fingers crossed that all is working well

Sir Ulli

 

[Spacehead]

Cool. Looks like Heavens Above will have the coordinance for the average Joe to track this :thumbsup:
Wonder how bright it will be though???

 

[Assimilator1]

Lift off was successful I hear

 

[SirUlli]

Originally posted by: Assimilator1
Lift off was successful I hear

where you get your news from

SpaceflightNow

Success of solar sail launch unknown

Reports from a tracking station on the Kamchatka Penninsula states the spacecraft was not immediately detected. A second tracking station, on the island of Majuro in the central Pacific Ocean, also did not detect Cosmos 1's signal. Mission managers said they did not expect to receive good telemetry signals from either ground station.

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/050621_cosmos1_launch.html

and the Planet society is overloaded

http://www.planetary.org/

fingers crossed that all is working good...

Sir Ulli

 

[SirUlli]

Still no signal from Cosmos 1

Jun 21, 2005 | 13:32 PDT | 20:32 UTC
Launch plus 0 hours 46 min

Majuro did not receive signal.

Again, this was not wholly unexpected. We have to wait now for the next ground station contact, which is Panska Ves at 21:21:00 UT, about an hour from now.

Jun 21, 2005 | 13:21 PDT | 20:21 UTC
Launch plus 0 hours 35 min

Still nothing at Majuro

Jun 21, 2005 | 13:18 PDT | 20:18 UTC
Launch plus 0 hours 32 min

Little bit of signal at Petropavlovsk

Slava Linkin says Doppler signal was received at beginning, then was lost. That might be connected with the fact that the motor burn was happening at this point.

Jun 21, 2005 | 13:15 PDT | 20:15 UTC
Launch plus 0 hours 31 min

Majuro does not see signal yet

Jun 21, 2005 | 13:11 PDT | 20:11 UTC
Launch plus 0 hours 25 min

Report from Kamchatka is that they did not detect the spacecraft

This isn't necessarily unexpected. Petropavlovsk was a marginal contact, and it would have been happening while the spacecraft was spinning rapidly and thrusting, not an easy signal to deal with.

We are holding our breaths for the Majuro contact.

fingers crossed

Sir Ulli

 

[dmcowen674]

Well interesting.

A Rocket was sent up and no ability to track it. Hmmmmmm

 

[Wiz]

Ouch...

we are getting used to NASA sending a big dollar craft out somewhere and crashing it or losing it once it gets there but losing a craft before it even leaves earth is something else