Solar Sail Trials Begin

Yesterday the Planetary Society's solar sail prototype was sent aloft on an Atlas V rocket.  It shared the rocket with the Air Force's X-37B unmanned space shuttle, which was be carrying its own science missions. The LightSail project is designed to test alternative propulsion technology:

Solar sails use the sun’s energy as a method of propulsion—flight by light. Light is made of packets of energy called photons. While photons have no mass, a photon traveling as a packet of light has energy and momentum.  Solar sail spacecraft capture light momentum with large, lightweight mirrored surfaces—sails. As light reflects off a sail, most of its momentum is transferred, pushing on the sail. The resulting acceleration is small, but continuous. Unlike chemical rockets that provide short bursts of thrust, solar sails thrust continuously and can reach higher speeds over time.

The Planetary Society reported on the initial success of the launch, noting:

The first of The Planetary Society’s two LightSail spacecraft is now in space following a late morning launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Liftoff occurred at 11:05 a.m. EDT (15:05 UTC). The Centaur upper stage and primary payload are in their preliminary orbit, with LightSail and its CubeSat companions bolted near the aft section in the secondary ULTRASat payload. LightSail spacecraft separation is expected to occur at 1:05 p.m. EDT.

Spacecraft separation also went without a hitch and the mission is well underway.  You can continue to track the progress of mission by going here.  If all goes well, a second, full mission will take place in 2016.

Update:  If you would like to contribute to the 2016 Lightsail mission you can do so via  Kickstarter.  As of May 23rd, the site has garnered more than $700,000 in pledges, which is excellent since the goal was only $200,000.
Second Update:  The Planetary Society has declared the Lightsail mission to be a success, even with the multiple communication glitches.  You can listen to the press conference on the mission here.  

The Secret Shuttle is Airborne Again

On December 11, 2012, the U.S. Air force launched its X-37b unmanned shuttle on its third mission.  It is interesting how the shuttle went up one day before the North Korean's launched their rocket to place a satellite in orbit.  However, it appears to be a coincidence since the X-37b was initially scheduled to launch on October 25, 2012, but was delayed due to rocket problems.

Even so, could the U.S. be monitoring this North Korean mission as well as others?  We may never know since the X-37b missions are classified.  However, the U.S. has other assets in the region and in orbit that can do this work just fine.  As noted by Wired magazine:

The US has at least two infrared sensors in HEO orbits as part of the Space-Based Infrared System. Open source information indicates that they are hosted on two classified satellites, USA 184 and USA 200. The same satellites are also believed to carry a signals intelligence payload that can collect electromagnetic emissions. Observations from amateur satellite observers indicate that their orbits "hang" over Asia, indicating that they likely could have been used to monitor the launch site and observe the launch.

The U.S. Still Has a Space Shuttle Program

Even with the demise of NASA's shuttle program, we should remember that the United States has been running a separate shuttle program under the Pentagon that is alive and well.  The USAF has been operating the X-37B unmanned shuttle, or  Orbital Test Vehicle-2 (OTV-2), which safely landed last month after being aloft since March 5, 2011.  This is the X-37B's second flight, the first one taking place in 2010 and lasting 244 days.

The X-37B is not only unmanned but also considerably smaller than the better known space shuttles, being only 29 feet long and 15 feet wide.  This mini-shuttle was originally planned by NASA and later picked up by the USAF.  A second larger craft, the X-37C, is also in the works.  This larger shuttle should be able to carry crew and cargo.

Earlier stories in The Register also discusses various aspects of the "secret" mini-shuttle program as well as NASA's shuttle program:

-- NASA saw the craft as a potential "lifeboat" for the International Space Station;
-- The X-37B is supposed to be much more advanced in terms of turnaround time, heat shields, and more than the Shuttle.
-- It is often forgotten nowadays that the Shuttle was originally intended not just for NASA operations from Cape Canaveral, but also for military operations from a dedicated complex at Vandenberg Airforce Base in California;
-- Hopes for out of the X-37B seem likely to focus on the same things the Air Force originally wanted from the Shuttle: mainly the ability to recover horrifyingly expensive surveillance hardware from space for repairs, replenishment of manoeuvring fuel and/or upgrading; and
-- If you want to get out into the wilder speculative realms you could postulate a mission lifting off to retrieve, not a US satellite, but someone else's. The initial launch would be explained as delivery of a normal secret payload, but in fact the spaceplane would lift empty, scoop up its target on one pass and return to land on a "Mission 3B" style profile without ever flying above a hostile telescope or radar station.

And how does the USAF describe the X-37B?  Here is what their factsheet says: "The primary objectives of the X-37B are twofold: reusable spacecraft technologies for America's future in space and operating experiments which can be returned to, and examined, on Earth."

Other space-faring nations see it a little differently.  Quoted in China Daily, Zhao Xiaozhuo, a research fellow of military studies under China's Academy of Military Science of the People's Liberation Army, said "As a superpower, the US has been calling for nuclear disarmament all these years and urged other countries to be more responsible for world peace and safety...But in the meantime, its development of the space plane may lead to an arms race in space." Of course, the Chinese have more and more happening in orbit, from spy satellites to space station missions, so their paranoia is understandable.

So it appears the U.S. has the funds to operate a separate space program with its own shuttles.  And now it is moving towards manned shuttles while NASA has no means to assist our astronauts in the International Space Station without the assistance of the Russians.  Does this make sense?

Chinese space success has been partly attributed to the combined civilian and military space program.  I can only wonder if two pots of money is really better than one, not to say the two are not already mixed.  While NASA and the USAF maintain separate launch facilities in Florida, the NASA space shuttle program was often used to launch military satellites. 

Maybe in a time of scarce resources, or at least the perception of scarce resources, more should be done to share equipment and even missions.  Yes, we want a "peaceful" and scientific NASA space program, but we are only kidding ourselves if we think NASA stands completely separate from our national defense goals.  The very existence of NASA is owed to its role in beating our Cold War adversary to the moon, and now we are facing other nations also racing to the moon while NASA seems to lack a meaningful manned mission.  And let's not forget the science done by Napoleon when he arrived in Egypt or Darwin when he was aboard the HMS Beagle, a 10-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy.  It may be time for some new thinking.

Interesting Note:   The British-built Beagle 2 was sent to Mars for scientific studies as part of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Mars Express mission.  Unfortunately, ESA lost contact with the Beagle 2 just before it was scheduled to land on the Martian surface.