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  Home arrow News arrow News from Space arrow big splash

 
big splash | Print |  E-mail
Written by staff   
Wednesday, 18 August 2004

>big splash

Canada's Arrow rocket has successfully tested its parachute in a drop from 2,400 meters. While a far cry from an actual X Prize attempt, the crew cabin landed safely in the waters of Lake Ontario on Aug. 14 after being dropped from a helicopter. They have not yet announced a date for an actual launch of the craft.

 

The new space race so far:

? Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites will make their X Prize attempt on Sept. 29.

? Canada's Da Vinci Project will make their attempt three days later, on Oct. 2.

? Space Transport Corp.'s Rubicon One rocket exploded during a test launch on Aug. 9, but the company feels it could still make an X Prize attempt with proper funding.

>come sail away

Japan's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science has successfully launched and deployed the world's first solar sail. A test only, it was deployed from a rocket launched from the Uchinoura Space Center on Aug. 9, then jettisoned shortly after deployment, according to an ISAS release.

The first actual solar sail powered spacecraft is planned to be deployed into orbit during the next year from an SS-N-18 submarine launched ballistic missile, according to a recent report in The Guardian. The project is the work of the Planetary Society, an independent international group.

Solar sail craft use the pressure exerted by the sun's photons to propel them.

 
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