Posted on 07/05/2008 1:36:44 PM PDT by KevinDavis
This summer, NASA plans to propel a satellite the size of a loaf of bread through space with an ultra-thin, 100-square-foot sail called NanoSail-D.
Developed and constructed in just six months as the result of a partnership between Marshall Space Flight Center and Ames Research Center, NASA will ride the sail into space on an upcoming flight of the new Falcon 1 launch vehicle developed by Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, California. The launch is scheduled for take place from Omelek Island in the Pacific Ocean.
Once in space, a Poly Picosatellite Orbital Deployer, or P-POD, developed at the University of California Polytechnic Institute, will be used to deploy the sail.
(Excerpt) Read more at theengineer.co.uk ...
I guess they know they are doing but a 100-square-foot sail hardly sounds like enough.
This is only a test...
It doesn't matter. The bread will be stale by the time it reaches any E.T.s.
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