What Happened To Cosmos 1?
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"Good news is that the satellite is all right. Bad news is that we don't know where it is." These were the first pieces of information that were released after the launch of Cosmos 1 in June.
The Russian satellite, Cosmos 1, was lauched June 21st 2005. It was a special satellite because it had the ability to move by solar wind power. The solar radiation gives acceleration to the satellite. The solar wind power is an energy source that might enable those trips from star to star that untill now have been impossible because of the lack of fuel for such a long distances.
The solar wind sail was launched from a Russian submarine. A missile had been transformed into a carrier rocket and it was supposed to take the solar wind sail to the Earth's orbit where it would have been opened. The sail was meant to be used in steering and navigation tests that would have shown whether it was suitable for space sailing or not. For the future of astronomy that was a major issue.
According to some Russian sources a problem came up with the first stage motor 83 seconds after the launch. The first stage motor of the carrier shut down on its own. After that the rocket probably ended up in the Barents sea somewhere around the launch site. Russia has also suggested that the satellite might have ended ud in some other orbiting track than it was supposed to.
The satellite cost four million dollars and it was financed by NASA, ESA, Japan, The United States and Russia.
The space exploration continues and one of the interesting launches in the future is tha launch of the Discovery space shuttle by NASA on July 13th. The launch might be delayed by bad weather or a technical failure. Just two and a half years ago NASA failed in the launch of the Columbia.
Space research takes a lot of money and may cause either major losses or give us indispencable information. And in science failure encourage people to continue until victory.
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