SPACE Digest V2 #41

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1 total messages Started by ucbvaxspace Wed, 25 Nov 1981 03:22

#26

Author: ucbvaxspace
Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1981 03:22

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>From OTA@S1-A Wed Nov 25 03:17:47 1981

SPACE Digest                                      Volume 2 : Issue 41

Today's Topics:
			       Solar Sails
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Date: 24 Nov 1981 20:43:31-PST
From: decvax!duke!unc!smb at Berkeley
In-real-life: Steven M. Bellovin
To: decvax!duke!unc!space@Berkeley
Subject: Solar Sails

The November 21 issue of "Science News" has a fairly long (by its
standards) article on solar sails.  According to the article, the
Mariner 3 and 4 spacecraft were designed to use solar vanes to help
with attitude control; unfortunately, neither probe worked right.  But
light pressure was used to roll-stabilize the Mariner 10 in 1974 when
problems with the attitude-control system threatened to exhaust its
supply of steering gas.  Without "solar-sailing mode", it probably
could not have completed its Mercury flybys.

The World Space Foundation is designing and building prototype solar
sails; they hope to get a free launch on an Ariane or some other
vehicle, much as the OSCAR satellites have been launched.  The American
Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics even purchased a shuttle
"Getaway Special" for a sail, but NASA ruled it didn't qualify,
apparently because the specials could not be used to deploy structures
outside the shuttle.

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End of SPACE Digest
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