"With the delivery of all electronic systems, Cosmos 1 -- the world's first solar sail craft -- achieved a critical milestone today in its countdown towards its launch later this year or early in 2008."
+ Read Press Release (The Planetary Society)
Editor's Note: Been following this for a few years. It's great to see this finally approaching launch.
Posted by jburk at August 12, 2026 12:18 PM | TrackBackI knew I had seen another solar sail project called cosmos 1.
http://www.planetary.org/solarsail/index2.html
Even Nasa was into the game on solar sails.
http://solarsail.jpl.nasa.gov/
more history
http://www.space.com/busines....06.html
More news release stuff;
NASA's Solar Sail Propulsion Team and industry partners have successfully deployed two 10-meter solar sails in a vacuum environment — a critical milestone in development of the unique propulsion technology that could enable future deep space missions. Solar sail propulsion uses the Sun's energy to travel through space.
http://www.msfc.nasa.gov/news/news/releases/2004/04-208.html
Posted by: Harold LaValley at August 13, 2026 06:57 AMI hate to disappoint the Planetary Society but can they still use the "first" moniker?
I mean, they haven't lofted their sail yet and the Japanese successfully launched one earlier in the week. Score one for the Japanese space program!
Posted by: FredKiesche at August 13, 2026 11:01 PM