Hi folks, I'm new to this list, so thanks for the opportunity to interact with you. Many of you know that the Cosmos 1 launch is scheduled for today. I work on the NASA solar sail propulsion projects and we are hoping to have a flight validation mission later this decade. One of the primary objectives for our mission is to validate the thrust performance of a solar sail and the associated models that would enable us to design operational sailcraft in the 100+ meter (length of side for square sail design) as required for early science missions. To validate the thrust performance will require measuring the sail's orbit and estimating the thrust forces on the sail to generate that trajectory. I proposed a pro-am collaboration at the May 2005 meeting of the Society for Astronomical Sciences to use ground observations to help us with orbit determination for a proposed solar sail flight validation mission. The Cosmos 1 mission provides us an excellent opportunity to "beta-test" our concept. Cosmos 1 is scheduled to launch TODAY, June 21 and will deploy the solar sail panels on June 25 beginning at approximately 9:35 pm PDT. The mission duration is estimated to be on the order of weeks. I saw something earlier on the list with other estimates of magnitude, but I estimated that the visual magnitude will be around -1 to -2 and the sail angular rate will be approximately 3.5 arcmin per sec. Information about Cosmos 1, mission progress, and information on the ground track after launch (from Heavens Above) may be found at the planetary society's Cosmos 1 web page http://www.planetary.org/solarsail/. I would very much appreciate your help participating in this "dry-run" for the pro-am observing campaign. Your observations will help test and refine methods; give a good estimate of the accuracy we can expect; and add substantive credibility to our flight validation mission proposal. I greatly appreciate your support and look forward to demonstrating a fruitful collaboration that will help us advance the technology of solar sail propulsion systems. Hopefully we will be able to take what we learn from this beta test and put it to good use with a solar sail propulsion flight demonstration later this decade! Thanks again for your support! Questions, comments, and data can be sent to me at mark.whorton@nasa.gov Mark Dr. Mark S. Whorton EV42 / Guidance, Navigation, and Mission Analysis NASA Marshall Space Flight Center p: 256-544-1435 f: 256-544-5416 mark.whorton@nasa.gov ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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